


Trust falls

by TFALokiwriter



Category: Lost in Space (1998)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Canon Compliant, Character Growth, Crying, Dialogue Heavy, Forgiveness, Found Family, Future Fic, Gen, Light Angst, Loss of Trust, Mutation, Post-Canon, This fic came out longer than it was supposed to be, Time Skips, Trust, Trust Falls, apology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22672168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: A trust fall can either make trust grow or fall apart.
Relationships: John Robinson & Will Robinson, Robot & Zachary Smith, Will Robinson & Zachary Smith, Zachary Smith & Don West





	1. Major West

"Smith, have you heard of a trust fall?" Don asked. 

Smith stared down the section of rounded balls in each pit with his arms folded looking down.

"Can't say that I have." He looked toward the younger man lifting his brow. "What is it?"

"Put your hands on your chest and fall back." Don instructed. 

"And then what, Major?" Smith asked. 

"You let someone catch you." Don said. 

"Hmm. . ." Smith turned his attention away then walked off from him with his hands in his lap. "I see where this is going."

"Do you?" Don turned toward Smith. 

"How about . . ." Smith turned toward Don. "no."

"It'll be fun!" Don approached Smith with a grin.

"For you, but not for me." Smith said. "I don't know if I can trust you if I do fall."

"You can." Don said. 

"For the past month since those three difficult years of agonizing mutation and being given a treatment as of recently with a direct path to Alpha Prime A, I have reflected over being abandoned by a certain someone at every turn when I got close to being it and I can't seem to _trust_ that kind of person with my fall." 

Don grimaced, looking aside, regretfully, then turned his attention upon him.

"Still a sore subject." Don said. 

"What wouldn't be? Being abandoned?" Smith asked. "And intentionally left behind when I got closer to a real, genuine, terrifying monster?"

"We did what was right." Don said. 

"And you only came back because _William_ overstayed his welcome for the people who were keeping me." Smith reminded. "People who also manipulated me into thinking everything was alright and you let them do it knowing what they wanted from me." 

"It was only a dozen so time every year." Don said. "You're being a little whiny baby."

"That was **CONSTANTLY**." Smith lashed. "Cooooonstaaantly!"

Don squinted at the man.

 **"** I'll tell Penny that it was you who nearly broke her video diary three years ago."

"It was on accident." Smith protested. "It was so, delicate, it's been a long time since I used a video diary. And we couldn't see each other. For a full long moment---I believed I were hearing voices of the Robinsons and you and the ninny and the voices were coming from the machines." Smith shuddered, shaking his head, disturbed by the memory. "Using that device as my last will and testament was harder than how she made it look. Frankly, I am surprised that my entries were deleted as part of the parasites influences."

"Again, that wasn't us you were hearing." Don said. "That was the parasites."

"That was the voices of the parasites that had infested the ship and made everything wonky temporal wise." Smith waved his hand from side to side. "Displacing me from your crew in little personal time bubbles."

". . . Are you ever going to tell me why you let your hair grow long and grow a beard?"

"No."

"Would Penny believe your little story?" Don said. "You did kind of bust the holoprojector and other equipment intentionally several times for the last three years."

And Smith had a feeling that if he did the trust fall with her; she wouldn't catch him. His personal pet fear-- _Please be quiet, my dear friend._ His hands rolled into fists as he resisted against the thought. Tried to make it small and insignificant enough that it wouldn't cloud his mind a moment longer.

He quieted down his paranoia with the last three years of the Robinsons going against what he thought that they would do flashing across in his mind. It was the ink of doubt, suspicion, and distrust that coated him. Dark massing ink that helped him survive on Earth but did little to people who were proving to be his continued survival in space.

Ink that he was trying to clean away but it still lingered on as a stain that refused to leave him be. No matter how he scrubbed at it in the last year, it remained. Smith had only came to the realization months ago that unfortunate ink was a companion that he had to co-exist with in space. It wasn't just ink. It was a person that represented who he was before. A powerful voice that had been forced to become a small voice that warned of danger over his time with the Robinsons.

"Accident." Smith's replied, persistently, after the small moment of silence

"And, she didn't believe you that it was old." Don noted then Smith winced. 

"Fine, I shall do it." He turned around toward the major as the small but now tiny voice warned, eerily sounding like Robot, _Danger! Danger!_ , from within the recess of his mind. "Right this moment?"

Don looked toward the ball pit behind him then nodded with a grin.

"Yes. Right now." Don said. "I'll be right behind you."

Smith closed his eyes then put his hands on his chest and allowed himself to fall back. Instead, Smith crashed into a series of balls then his bright blue eyes flipped open feeling the balls digging against his spine and shoulder blades. And he scrambled to get up to his feet but his feet (and legs) sunk into the ball pit. From above, Don was cackling with his hands on his hips as though laughing at something incredibly funny and harmless.

"MAAAJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!" Smith shrieked. 

And it hurt a thousand times more just _thinking_ he could trust the major as a friend while Smith vanished into the ball pit listening to the sound of his laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to write this as a chat post on tumblr but as the words went on, it sounded more fitting for the 1998 version of Don and Smith so I allowed the conversation to go that way since they wanted it. I felt classic Smith would have forgiven him (if it were Classic Don) quickly but I sensed the film version of these two wouldn't have at all even after 3 years of being in the same company.
> 
> This was supposed to be a chat post on tumblr about 2 trust falls between Smith and Don and Smith and Will. Sadly, I got the distinct feeling I couldn't leave it as two and had to do more trust falls with the rest of the Robinsons. Then I got a story idea building and it went on from there.


	2. Will and Smith

**"** Doctor Smith, could we do a trust fall?" Will offered. "We haven't done that in the last three years. . ."  


Smith was silent for a long moment. 

It had only been two weeks ago did the incident with the trust fall happen and some wounds did not heal fully between Smith and the major. The barbs only grew more pointed, aggressive, and hurtful. Words that revealed just how much trust that had been dispelled with that simple exercise between them and Don was living to regret it. And they were right back to square one in their relationship much to Will's and Judy's dismay (and groans).  


"No." 

Smith turned his gaze away from the tree line where Blarp the Blip was being sent on a walk by Penny and Judy.  


"Don't you trust me?" Will asked.  


"Ah, sure." Smith nodded. "I do, my dear boy."

"But, what?" Will frowned. "Scared of getting hurt?"

"No." Smith said, simply. "Trapped."

"Trust me, Doctor Smith." Will said.  


Smith looked toward the boy.  


"I do." Smith said.  


"Then why don't you do a trust fall with me?" Will asked.  


"I am scared." Smith admitted. "To find out when it really counts to a fall and having my back; that I will be proven wrong."

"Yeah. . ." Will said. "that last one with Don didn't turn out so well."  


"Indeed." Smith said. "It didn't." 

"You've trusted me this far, Doctor Smith." Will looked up toward the aging but being mutated man. "Trust me to this next step in our friendship."

Smith nodded looking down upon the younger one. 

"If you so insist." Smith replied.  


Smith trembled, his mind wandering like firecrackers, going to a thousand potential scenarios. 

And once again, he ordered all those thoughts to; _Quiet. Quiet. Quiet._ Making them become silent within his mind then put his hands on his chest. He let go of all the feelings on the trust fall go even the fears. Smith relaxed his figure reeling in the internal terror and the fear of being allowed to _fall._ A feeling that threatened to break him in two.  


Smith fell back squeezing his eyes shut then felt a pair of hands land on his back.  


"Not over a ravine, Doctor Smith!"  


Smith's eyes flashed open as his mind went through a explosion and rocketed away with a sudden dawned realization.  


Smith lunged forward then turned around and reached forward for the thirteen year old falling back waving his arms.  


Smith caught the boy by the tunic then yanked him off the cliff edge.  


"I got you, my dear boy." 

Smith put a hand on the boy's shoulder as they looked off panting toward the tall even towering ravine with sharp rocks resting below them with their hearts racing in unison.

"A close one." Will agreed.  


Smith looked upon the boy in concern. 

"Are you alright?"  


"A little terrified is all, Doctor Smith." Will chuckled, as the older man stepped back, looking off cowering with his hands in his lap then back toward the boy. "I won't tell my family about this little incident."

Smith nodded in return.  


"Let's leave it as that." Smith agreed, carefully patting his double jointed hands on the boy's shoulder. "Our little secret."  


Three years had done a mark on the man and a month of being given a treatment was peeling away him back to a human. And age was being settled on the man's features with human skin that returned but there were still some black splotches standing out among his face similar to birth marks and his hair was currently a buzz cut as it were slowly returning. The small but tiny smile that the boy had summoned from him made Will smile back as well.  


"Our little secret." Will agreed.  


And they followed after Penny.  



	3. Robot

"Doctor Smith, this is the perfect opportunity to execute a trust fall." Robot said.

Smith paused in his tracks, carrying his camping gear, after having been exiled for what to be the hundredth time in the company of the Robinsons.

"No."

And this time, he wasn't feeling quite sure that he could come back to them this time with their new guests standing out as preferable company compared to him. He had a sinking feeling that his company with the machine was limited. And, despite that, this potential last request of the machine was enough to decline in the nature of it.

"This is a trust building exercise."

"I know how you feel about me." Smith replied. "This exercise is unnecessary."

"Negative." Robot replied. "It is not."

"Did everyone have a private meeting and discuss approaching me with this matter?" Smith asked, annoyed.

"Only Will and I agreed on it in private." Robot replied. "I am only part of it in the interest of easing your fears."

"What fears?" Smith asked. "I have no fears!" he dropped the camping gear to the ground across from a lake then gestured toward the lake ahead of him. "I have nooothing to fear!"

"Of being allowed to fall to your certain doom." Robot said. "That experience was terrifying as I was to understand."

Smith shuddered, his arms folded, squeezing his eyes shut briefly then opened them and looked up toward Robot.

"Being swallowed whole by a bunch of balls does tend to leave night terrors." Smith admitted.

"What night terrors?" Robot asked as his helm twirled in alarm toward Smith.

"Oh. . ." Smith whistled. "nothing."

"Talk to me, Doctor Smith." Robot turned toward the older man.

"I have been experiencing nightmares recently that the ground turns into those balls beneath me and I sink into them and . . ." Smith couldn't force himself to finish.

"There is no way out and no one is there to help you." Robot finished.

Smith silently nodded, lowering his head, unable to reply for a full few minutes.

"I feel so insignificant, small, and unnoticed in them." Smith's voice grew smaller as he rubbed his arm.

"You were in there for ten minutes." Robot said. "Why did you not roll out?"

"I was scared that if I tried moving then I would sink even further and die in the cosmic never ending ball pit." Smith said then he reminded with a wave of his hand. "It was one of a kind ball pit that I had fallen into in my entire life."

"This computes." Robot said.

Smith surveyed the beach of rock and the logs scattered around the area.

"I sense I am going to be staying here awhile." Smith said. "Go home to your warm and caring family unit, cylon."

"Not without our exercise." Robot said.

Smith sighed then turned toward Robot putting his hands on his hips.

"You are determined for this minor and unimportant task?" Smith asked. "You may not need to do it."

"What makes you say that?" Robot asked.

"Can't you tell?" Smith lifted a brow.

"No, I cannot." Robot said.

"They like those people over me!" Smith pointed back at himself. "Their ship is permanently destroyed and there is only so little weight this ship can hold---"

His hands fell into fists as he yanked them down turning away from Robot then faced the quiet and serene lake. Robot didn't say another word. He waited for Smith to pick up where he had started. He had learned long ago to let the man finish his train of thought out loud when venting; no matter how dark it sounded. Being there provided the older man some sense of comfort. Only talking when Smith needed it.

And Smith sighed as his shoulders sulked.

"You know how 'little' trouble they appear to bring." Smith reminded.

"Affirmative." Robot said. "They have brought little."

"Compared to me despite how new they are; I can see it in everyone's eyes! How much they like them." Smith said, bitterly, with a forced but anguished and knowing laugh. "They want to bring them aboard and that means the over excessive weight has to stay behind."

"They are hard workers, Doctor Smith." Robot reminded. "They have brought in a load of more supplies than what the Robinsons have been able to as of recently."

"I have scoured their database, found the prized information, attempted to show it to the Robinsons---but no, they destroyed it!" He flailed his arms in the air as if hailing a helicopter. "No, CLEANED it!"

"There is no trace of their efforts to 'clean' it."

"They took soap and destroyed every bit of workable parts after I had proof of their intentions, booby."

Smith paced back and forth then pinched the bridge of his nose with even more laughter that was beginning to grow hysterical as he threw his head up toward the sky.

"Then I tried getting the people chasing after them to get them, then they threatened the Robinsons because I brought them to the ship, then they informed them of my part, and right now, as everything is undeniably headed toward; they're going to give those intergalactic federal agents of intelligence the slip."

Smith paused across from Robot then looked toward the sky that was growing dark before his eyes as if visualizing something else happening among them -- a bit briefly haunted -- but pained imagining it happening for a moment. 

"They will be leaving in the middle of the night when all the eyes are on me." Smith began. "Just waiting to see if those very unhappy and manipulative people are willing to finish what they had started since I started giving them a background check over a gut feeling!" 

He picked up dozens of pebbles and threw them into the distance as he talked at great length lashing out the anger. The pebbles bounced against the surface of the lake then crashed quite distantly without a sound ahead of the shoreline coming to a pause at the center of the lake. His shoulders lowered and raised as he panted with rage. He closed his hands into fists, dug into his hair, lowering his head.

"And it is fucking terrifying!" Smith exploded, releasing his hands from his hair and threw his arms into the air. "Not knowing what is to happen next to _me_." 

He raised his head up with a sigh then picked up more pebbles then tossed them into the distance one at a time.

"Knowing that I am right and things are not going to go their way." His figure trembled with distress. "How it will go down is up in the air of the consequence." 

He picked up more pebbles with speed. 

"Alas, one fact is written in stone by themselves." Smith said. "They are doomed." 

With a crash, the pebbles were thrown at once from Smith's hands and some of them flew on while a few of them clunk loudly against the surface then fell into the belly of the lake. 

"More terrifying than anything we have encountered, Doctor Smith?" Was all Robot asked.

Smith sighed, his features easing, his eyes closing with a small nod.

"Yes." 

He opened his eyes, mournfully, looking on ahead of him.

"I feel for you, Doctor Smith." Robot said. 

Smith looked on, wistfully, toward Robot then back toward the lake ahead.

"And unlike most adventures," Smith said. "this one makes me want to cry and weep for them."

Smith combed through his hair with his hands.

"It's--everything is ending." Smith said. "And no one is listening to the truth as it falls apart. Just how it happened on Earth."

"I am listening." Robot wheeled closer toward Smith.

"But, you don't believe me." Smith's voice bordered on cracking.

"I believe that you fully believe there is danger." Robot said. "I do not blame you."

Smith turned toward Robot.

"Why?" Smith asked.

"It is in your nature." Robot said. "It is programmed into you in a more biological way compared to mine." Smith lowered his gaze on to the body of water ahead of him.

"Growing up does all the programming." Smith said. 

"You have your danger alarm on all the time, Doctor Smith." Robot said. "For that, I do not pity you. I only envy you because normally, you're right." 

"I do." Smith agreed. "It's days like these that make me wish that I could turn it off and not be this way to everyone around me."

Smith sat down on to the mound of rock, pained, hurt, and his heart aching at the impending disaster that was beyond his further grasp to prevent.

"That alarm has kept you alive for so long to cross paths with the Robinsons and aid in the development of my artificial intelligence." Robot said. Smith looked up toward the machine listening to what he had to say. "Your danger alarm may be your personal annoyance . . . however, it has been your loyal friend that had your back."

Smith had a moment of reflection then snickered.

"Remember when you were first dirty when you entered the Jupiter 2 because certain set of people neglected to clean you?"

"I recall that vividly."

"And your shell was a bit. . ."

"You can say it."

"A bit out of the grave and horrifying."

"I look the way that I am meant to." Robot replied. "The way I am always meant to be."

"But, you have down graded from that to a more. . ." he twirled his index finger looking for a sufficient word. "humanoid form." Smith nodded his head, lowering his finger, placing it into his lap. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Negative." Robot said.

Smith shrugged then walked on and began to mark his place of living among the tree line.

"May I help you?"

"Booby. . ." Smith started with a sigh. "It's over." Smith looked toward Robot with a exasperated glare. "You heard it in their voices just as I do. They _meant_ it. Now, go."

Robot wheeled back then turned away as his helm bobbed down.

"I don't want it to end this way." Robot said.

"How did it end last time?" Smith asked as he took out the gear from the survival kit.

"It didn't have a proper ending, Doctor Smith." Robot said. "There were no goodbyes. Only a order."

Smith struggled to set up the tent then made the wrong movement and proceeded to stumble back with a yelp. Robot extended his arms out and caught him, his claws clasping on to the older man's shoulder, then steadied him to his feet and slid him forward.

Smith caught on to a tree bark. He clenched on to his chest, breathing in and out, performing a panic exercise. Smith cleared his throat then looked toward Robot with gratitude and had a short lived nod back at the young machine.

"It won't be the real end of the story, Doctor Smith, if we have to part under these conditions. It will only be the end of a adventure." Robot said. "The story goes on. People continue living. And they cross paths. It is a small world."

"Indeed."

And Robot wheeled away.

"I see a tragedy starting to unfold and no one else sees it." Smith looked toward the sky, sorrowfully, then resumed his construction.


	4. Penny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Terminator Theme (Extended)" (The Terminator OST) helped me in writing the previous chapter and this chapter. 
> 
> Linkin Park - Waiting For The End helped at the end of this chapter.

"Dad, how are we going to get out of here?" Penny asked.

"I don't know but we have to try lifting off," John said.

"What if we used the energy field distruptor?" Will asked.

"That hasn't been working right as of late and it only works for one person," John said. "However, if we had a unlimited power source."

"Like Robot's atomic engine then we could have made it." Will said.

"But, we got rid of it." Penny said.

"We could use the lasers to make a way out." Maureen said. "Find a weak point and exploit it. We could destroy the forcefield that way."

"And use a space pod to get out of here." Penny said.

"We're doomed!" Smith cried. "Doomed!"

"Judy, how is our patient?" John pressed a button and her holographic figure came over.

"Unconscious," Judy replied over the comn. "Regeneration of his skin tissue and bones will take at least a few days."

From the panic and struggling to use whatever they had in their arsenal, Smith began to back away from the family toward the doorway then opened it.

"No need to fear, Smith is here." Smith whispered to himself then raised his voice. "I am going to check if the doctor needs any help."

"Alright, Doctor Smith." Will said. 

Robot twirled toward Smith staring at him with a long glare and bobbed his helmet up.

"Doctor Smith," Robot began to protest. "no--"

"It's just a quickie." Smith replied, then slipped out speeding down the stairs.

Smith bolted down the stairs as the door closed behind him then he went the opposite way of the ship heading toward the exit of the Jupiter 2. Out of the ugly brown and aged pancake saucer came the man in his late forties out of the hangar bay then lunged out of the forcefield crashing to the ground with a yelp.

He lunged forward and began to type quickly on a console. He sunk momentarily once being shocked then smacked his fist against it and looked up as the forcefield flickered. Smith performed the necessary sabotage then ran toward the Jupiter 2 as Will watched on and beckoned him on. Once Smith struck the forcefield, he was sent flying away crashing against a console then grunted lifting himself up.

"Oh for heaven's sake!"

He tried, again, this time crashing even harder against a console with a groan and his figure ached from the collision then aside and back toward the Jupiter 2 that was lifting up as the forcefield was becoming electrified. He looked over spotting security vessels headed their way then toward the large watermelon sized gun that was discarded on the floor. He picked it up then slid his arm into the back.

It clung and dug and sang with a distinctive hum as it sunk itself into his arm. His nerves were the ones that were hit first then so was the major blood vessels. He grit his teeth with the flash of familiar pain tinging his mind. The metal climbed up his shoulder, digging itself in tearing away the uniform in half then planted itself along the right side of his face and a small red transparent bulb slid around his eye changing it from one of organic nature to a cyborg nature. His blue eye changed to bright red in a matter of a second.

He can feel the pain in his bones traveling him as he used the large weapon to lift himself up to his feet. It planted itself into his neck becoming implanted and even more highly connected to him with a hiss replacing the skin. Smith carried the large blaster in his arm fighting back the pained tears. He aimed for the leader of the group then pressed the trigger and it fired a large blast that sent him flying as a cost.

He struck the forcefield console then lifted himself up and limped away further as the machine became quickly adjusted to his well being then fired another blast drawing the attention of the vessels. He parted himself away from the Jupiter 2 then watched as the consoles exploded and the electric barrier was gone. The Jupiter 2 lifted up further ceasing it's attack on the minimal small section of the ship from above as Smith covered them standing his ground as he fired at the machines drawing their attention away from the Jupiter 2.

Smith sent a couple of the crafts falling then looked toward the sky with a smile.

He had only recently regained them and yet, he had to lose them, again.

 _No,_ Smith amended to himself, _I am sparing them. I am not really losing them._

He turned his attention off from the blue sky then fired at the last craft as it started to fly up toward the exit of the landing bay. 

"Oh no, you shall not, Satan!"

The last craft crashed to the ground with a boom that knocked Smith back against the railing.

"Oh dear." Smith groaned, lifting himself up to his feet using the large blaster.

They were escaping the planetary security force of the alien planet they had landed on only months ago. Months ago when they had been welcomed as allies in desperate need of help. They were making evasive moves with what little rockets that they had left over after harvesting the material for it against people they had once called allies. Prized material that was turning out in the long run to save their lives.

He could see it in his mind's eye as the craft fled out of the atmosphere then fled from the space territory of the planet making their way for home. That was the single unifying thought which brought a smile to his face as he fired round after round toward the attacking crafts shooting lead after him. The crafts were slender and silver with a glare that made him squeeze his eyes and aim without direction. Yet, he was still effective in wounding their crafts. Saving the people of whom he cared about dearly.

With his renewed strength and determination in a dignified end, the bullets were sent back. They were sent back with the constant blast sapping away at his energy levels. All the precious hours of sleeping well all stacked up then proceeded to fall in such a way that bullets of a machine gun were let go until the reserve energy from the heart was being pumped out. Smith circled around the railing aiming with purpose then a loud and explosive energy blast knocked him back to the ground searing away at the machine hooked into his arm. And the explosion seared away the metal along his face revealing burns.

Smith lifted himself up, partially, with a groan. He looked up watching the crafts had landed to the ground then the warriors disembark the crafts holding on to daggers. Smith used the remaining sharp and long pointed edge of the machine to lift himself up to his feet. He felt so lethargic that it almost concerned him. It didn't and it wouldn't for much longer. His mind wandered over the little energy that he had left. He came to the gap between the railing with a limp then fell down to his knees.

"Get back here, Earthling!"

"Never!" Smith cried using the railing to lift himself up -- despite the lack of energy, despite the lack of strength, despite having nothing to fight for--- then moved forward.

Smith came to a pause at the edge at least three feet away with his hands on the short stumps of railing then turned toward the warriors.

"You lack honor facing your demise, Doctor." the warrior said.

"How," Smith disagreed with a small smile shaking his head. "I do. I choose honor and preserve it."

"You refuse to fight the one responsible for your ultimate fate."

"I choose death over the lack of freedom and facing certain humiliation toward the end in your hands." Then Smith yawned. "I am . . quite. . . too tired for this sort of thing."

Smith stepped back.

"Why, you coward!" The warrior charged taking a double edge dagger from the sheath.

Smith yelped, jumping back, his heels meeting the edge of the landing pad and was stabbed in the chest almost a dozen times.

It felt to have been a dozen times with the abrupt sighting of the twisted blade going down and up.

He didn't feel pain at first.

The older man froze as the warrior yanked it back and held out his blade waving it with a warrior cry turning away from him. Smith began to trip then closed his fist and pressed what remained of the trigger using what was left of his energy to knock a hole into the center of the warrior. The warriors screamed, some of them covering their mouths, some of them gaping, some of them stunned watching their companion fall to the ground in front of them with lifeless eyes.

Smith fell down from across them with his arms crossed and so were his legs. Then there was the searing pain. His gaze fixated on the light blue sky watching it shrink in size before his eyes as he waited for the end. This time, Smith was falling from sweet victory rather than a bitter failure from the trash shoot. And there was no scream or yelp. Just silence and pain from his chest resulting of the stab wound. A stab wound that was worth it all.

In fact, it was right below where his bug wound had been in a unique kind of way. The wound wasn't from fleeing but standing his ground in the face of it. This time, he wasn't thrown in by his mutated counterpart; he allowed himself to fall. This time, he wasn't afraid for what waited beneath him. This time, he anticipated the end with a certain welcoming as if it were a old friend that would be there to greet him to the next life. And dying for the sake of love was the best way to go.

This time, as he fell, the Robinsons had certainty of making it out of the problem.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself to have a small smile at the twist of his downfall.

That was enough to be proud of and something that he could go down with to the end of the line with acceptance.

Abruptly, he felt something digging into his shoulders then opened his eyes and spotted two long grapples from beneath the spider like space pod.

"What in the heaven's?" Smith exclaimed.

The space pod door flung open as he was lifted up, momentarily blacking in and out, as he was dragged into the space pod.

"Good catch, Penny." Judy said.

"Thanks," Penny said. "I have been practicing."

"Put in the coordinates for the Jupiter 2." Judy said. "Report that we got him."

"Okay." Penny said.

Judy loomed over Smith then scanned his wounds then grimaced as Penny spoke in the background. 

"My dears. . ." Smith was unable to fully get the words of gratitude out in a moment of being wounded and tired. 

"Tell mother that we need the hover bed for transport once we arrive." Judy said. "Hang on, Doctor Smith." she took his burnt and wounded hand then gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's going to be okay once we get to the Jupiter 2."

And he blacked out.


	5. Doctor Judy Robinson

"He will be ready to have visitors in a few weeks." Judy explained to the family. "For now, he is retired to his cabin and expected to regain his strength. Don should recover quicker than Doctor Smith and be up to his feet a day before he is."

"Just how much of his personal strength did he use to help us out?" John asked.

"When it went down to it, he used his life force." Judy said. "And he will need some therapy for move some the muscles and nerves that were damaged from the attack by the Gangaskan."

"He was down to faint breathing when we got back." Penny said. "He was . . ."

"He was, what, Penelope?" Maureen asked.

"Almost gone in a pool of his own blood." Penny said.

"He will be fine." Will said. "Just you watch."

"In the mean time, we will find a planet to rest up and hide out on." John said. "We do need more supplies for the rest of the trip to Alpha Prime A." He turned toward Judy. "Is that long enough for them to recover?"

"It is, father." Judy replied.

"Good." John said. "How long will it take to find out if he is paralyzed?"

"Not long." Judy said. "It should be instant after he wakes up."

And the family exchanged smiles.

* * *

It took weeks for Smith's burns, muscles, skin tissue, and his health to rebound but Don's wounds were healing faster. And Will would spend hours at a time waiting for the older man to wake up. He wasn't a child anymore but nearly a full fledged adult but waiting for the older man to awaken left him felt powerless as a child waiting to find out if everything was alright from the operation.

Robot and Penny took over Will's shifts from time to time so he could go out and explore with Judy.

The Robinsons established shifts waiting for the older man and the younger man to get up.

Judy stared on puzzled as Smith fell asleep longer than what he was supposed to and went over the operation searching for what had gone terribly _wrong_.

* * *

"Judy, Don is awake!" Will announced one day, loudly, leaving the room of the major.

Don's eyes adjusted to the view of the room then Judy came to his peripheral vision with a smile.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

"How long have I been out?" Don scratched his chin with his hand.

"Two months compared to Doctor Smith." Judy said. "And he is still sleeping."

"You tell me that he put on a energy blaster?" Don asked.

"And sabotaged the force fields around the ship so we could escape." Judy said. "He did this behind our back."

"Typical." Don said.

Judy briefly closed her eyes then reopened them with a sigh and looked down upon him.

"Don."

"What is it?"

"It's been almost seven years since you did that trust fall." Judy said. "You wouldn't be in this position if he trusted you. He did what you said he would but it was almost too late," Don looked aside, regretful. "If this happened seven years ago then we wouldn't have a problem with it. But, we do now."

"What do you want me to do?" Don folded his arms. "Apologize?"

"For starters." Judy said.

"No. He is a menace!" Don exclaimed. "You saw how he put my hands into buckets of water the day before!"

"Don, you deserved it with the way that you treated the warrior." Judy said. "That much sexism?" Don folded his arms once lifting himself up from the biobed. "I thought you learned every alien women needed to be treated as your equal not as a delicate sex object."

"Who says I treated her as a--" Judy glared him down. "I suppose I did say it in that way."

"You're worse than he is, Don." Judy said.

"I am not worse than him." Don argued.

"Smith has the audacity to apologize after realizing that he was wrong and did something wrong." Judy said. "Even when he believes he was the one responsible for it but really wasn't. A part of him that is endearing." She looked down upon the older man. "Don, what happened seven years ago is your fault and what you have been doing is not endearing."

"Endearing?" Don asked, incredulously. "Asides to chickening out on doing his chores and doing his mining shifts?"

"Don, he cooks when we are too tired." Judy reminded. "He remembered our birthdays and tried to make up for sabotaging Robot three years in being lost with us. . ." She clenched on to pen on her padd as she checked his vitals and his internal organs. "and before we had to leave him on that planet for almost _six_ years."

"Six years is a long time." Don agreed.

"We were lucky that he decided to come back." Judy said. "He was reluctant to rejoin us after we tossed out the new comers after they made their move and tried to get all of us killed."

She grimaced at the memory that crossed her mind and so did Don.

Don had the worst grimace of the two of them at the memory.

"That was easily the most uncomfortable experience." Don said. "Being ignored. Shunned." he shook his head with his eyes momentarily squeezed shut. "Geeze, I didn't think Smith was actually capable of doing that."

"Giving us the cold shoulder for a month while living among his community of people was awful. But fortunate that he happened to find a week after. It could have been never had Will and you not discovered a nasty situation that was about to claim him and worked quickly on revealing it."

They were silent over the recollection from Judy for a few long minutes.

"I felt like I were a space marine." Don admitted then Judy had a small smile looking down upon him.

"Don, you have to apologize before you don't have the opportunity." Judy said. "You started on the path of redeeming yourself in his eyes leading the effort. Now, you have to continue it."

"Alright, Judy." Don said. "I will do it."

"You can get up and walk at any time." Judy said. "However, I recommend having--" Don crashed to the floor then Judy looked down toward him with a glare. "---some help at first as you haven't walked in two months!"

Don waved his hand above the bed with a laugh, meekly. 

"Help." Don plead.

Judy rolled a eye then put her datapadd to the table.

"Big baby." Judy said.

Judy helped him up to his feet and took a stash of clothing from the counter.

"No, you." Don retorted.

"You're going to need a little help getting changed." Judy said. "It will take you at least a few days to be walking on your own."

"Are you going to help me in the next few days?" Don asked.

"I am a doctor, not a nurse." Judy said. "That is Robot's territory. He won't judge you."

"Oh, the pain. . . The pain." Don whined.

* * *

Don was up and walking within the next few days without Robot's aid and making rapid progress over the amusement of Judy and Maureen. He walked with a limp that began to go away as signs of healing then they went back into space.

During the long trip back to Alpha Prime, Will remained by the older man's side waiting for him to awaken. It was a new pattern that had been forged with time and patience then it slipped into the third month and on to a new planet. The family changed out of their space suits into their dark colored uniforms. One night before dinner, Smith's eyes flipped open.

"I am hungry." Smith complained as his stomach growled. "How long have I had a good sandwich?"

Will's head bolted up with a startle then he smiled at the older man slumping himself up from the bed with a wince.

"Welcome back, Doctor Smith." Will said.

"You say that as if I have been gone for a decade."

"You have been gone for three months." Will said.

"Threeeeeeeeeeee mooooooonnnntths?" Smith emphasized.

"Yes, Doctor Smith." Will said. "It has been three months since you helped us get out."

"Three months," Smith whistled. "Are we any closer to the Alpha Centauri system?"

"On our way." Will said. "Trip is still long."

Smith groaned, smacking his head against the pillow, annoyed.

"Why in the heaven's couldn't I have been asleep for thirteen years and missed all the difficult parts?"

"Because life isn't supposed to be that easy," Will said. "And thirteen would be a awful year for you to wake up in."

"Thirteen is a lucky number, William." Smith said.

"I will get Robot and Judy." Will said. "Stay there."

"My legs are stiff as rocks," Smith said. "How in the heavens would I move with that much muscle mass not used to moving for three months?"

Will laughed then sprinted out of the room leaving him alone. Smith's head lowered then raised up feeling a tinge of lethargy. He raised his hand up, trembling, seeing his hands look massive for a moment with claws for fingers and his palms were twice their size.

In the blink of a eye, the terrifying illusion was gone and his hands were human and his heart was racing. He looked up from the hand lowering it down to his side and watched as the door to the bed room slid open revealing Judy. She came over him then scanned his figure with the med scanner.

"Checks out." Judy said. "Robot, help him take a shower."

"Hold on a moment, I don't need that mechanical beast's help to take a shower!"

"You can't move exactly right now." Judy reminded.

"Oh, the indignity! The indignity!" Smith complained, sliding his hands down with a whine. "Seeing me at my bare minimum."

Judy smiled then walked out then in a few moments, Robot wheeled in then came to his bedside holding a clump of new clothing.

"Slide yourself out, Doctor Smith. Do the best that you can." Robot replied. "I will do the rest."

Smith pouted then rolled out.

"Doctor Smith!" Robot exclaimed looming over. "Is that your best?"

"Why of course, bubble headed booby!" Smith snapped back. "Now help me up or I will scream bloody murder, you mechanical eye gazing chipmunk."

Robot laughed, mechanically, but fondly.

"Just don't stare there, help me!"

Robot handed Smith the clothing and reached his arms out then picked up the older man bridal style.

"Eeep!"

Robot turned away from the bed then wheeled for the bathroom.

* * *

**"** Smith, can we talk alone?" Don asked.

"We may." Smith replied **.** "Where to?" **  
**

"This way." Don said.

The men moved through the terrain until the Jupiter 2 was distant. Smith had spent the better part of the year recovering with the use of his arms and right eye after the emergency surgery to remove the ocular implant. His eye was still covered by a small white bandage that was to be shed weeks from now.

Smith shuffled forward, slowly, as if he were supporting weight that didn't belong lagging behind the major instead of by his side and the wounds on his face, arms, and hands had long since healed with help along the way. The therapy for his arms and hands had done lots of good bringing him back to where he had been before. However, Smith couldn't help but feel it was going unnaturally faster than it should have as though he were being helped by something. And this something had healed all his scars.

They came to a pause behind a lone and tall ancient tree.

"It's about what happened eight years ago."

"There are plenty of things I did before you and the Robinsons had to leave me eight years ago." Smith replied. "What are you to refer to?"

Don grimaced before replying.

"The trust fall."

Smith stiffened then scowled.

"And why bring _that_ up?" Smith asked.

"Because I realize what I did was a nasty thing and it was wrong of me to do that to you." Don said.

Smith's eyes flashed open in shock.

"Is this. . . you. . . ." Smith started, flabbergasted, but shocked leaning forward with a tilt of his head. " **apologizing** , my dear major?"

"Yes." Don confirmed.

"Carry on."

Smith waved his hand.

"I am sorry." Don apologized. "I was young. I was still angry at you for stranding us far from our intended destination, I was still angry that you tried to kill us all, that you succeeded in another timeline, that you survived in this timeline and that everyone likes you despite of your ways to get us all killed anyway. That's not easy to get over for someone who gets the job done."

Smith was silent then nodded looking down with his face down cast.

"Indeed."

"Well?" Don folded his arms.

Smith lifted his gaze up.

"I accept your apology."

"And?"

"No, I don't feel you're right about everyone liking me." Smith said, distastefully. As if he had removed a simple glove that covered the reality of what someone was denying and Don just stared at the older man in a almost floored way. "Everyone dislikes me one way or another. I feel that William must share some resentment to his childhood being the way it is." He shoulders slumped playing with his fingers. "The professor may be angry as you are but is searching, desperately, for good in me."

Smith sat down to a nearby boulder then crossed his legs.

"Penny, as you mentioned years ago, may share a tinge amount of dislike and suspects I did. . ." He looked aside, distantly, then regretfully. "what we know I did to her video camera."

He clasped his hands together beneath his chin looking down.

"The madame, I feel, is. . . Is the one who resents me more than anyone for endangering her family." He turned his attention toward the major. "They may put on a mask and pretend to like me to the best of their ability." He unclasped his hands in a explosive gesture then leaned back with a false smile and put his hands on his knees. "But it is just a mask, major."

"Why do that?" Don asked.

"To keep up crew morale." Smith replied.

"You mean; your mood." Don said.

"Their masks are pleasing but I don't know for certain if they do like me." Smith admitted with a sigh. "I feel like they're pretending. Hiding behind goody two shoes." he clicked his dark boots together. "The family was dysfunctional when we came into the picture," Smith placed his hands in his lap lifting his gaze up toward the major. "So it is not far fetched."

"How can you tell?" Don asked. "I thought you trust them."

"I do." Smith admitted. "Just not enough to know they like me. Not just care about me."

"I see." Don said.

"People have done what the Robinsons have done and then stabbed me in the back, abandoned me, and hurt me in ways that you cannot imagine before I met you and them." Smith explained to the major with calmness that seethed in resentment. "I am the man that I am today because of them. Not just of a greedy man. Because it has kept me alive up until today. And having this shield around myself keeps me from being hurt."

"What about eight years ago?" Don asked.

"I was angry at you." Smith said.

"You sounded like you were hurt then." Don noted.

"Not hurt," Smith argued. "Trust shattered?" He looked aside then back toward Don. "Yes." 

"How about we try it a second time?" Don asked.

"No." Smith said.

"Not about the trust fall." Don shook his head.

"Then try, what?" Smith asked, puzzled. 

**"** Uh, being friends, for starters. Let's start." Don said. "You're a dick."

"And yooou are a idiot!" Smith retorted. "And that is not a exercise in friendship. That's a insult."

"Well, do you have better ideas?" Don asked.

"Why, course I do!" Smith bounced up to his feet with a grin. "Fishing! FOR STARTERS!"

"No." Don declined.

 **"** If you want to be my friend then you have to be patient with me." Smith said. "Before I can really trust you _again_ to call a friend."

"Again---" Don stopped. "You called me 'friend' . . . before the trust fall?"

Smith turned away from Don then paused looked aside toward the past.

"I prefer not to answer that." Smith replied.

Smith walked on for the Jupiter 2 ahead of the pilot.

"I really screwed up, didn't I?" Don asked. 

And Smith walked on unable to answer him.

* * *

Smith went to the meal synthesizer the next morning.

It didn't work much to his surprise and he scowled.

Something was wrong and he didn't quite like it.

So he walked out of his room after a change of clothing and went down the corridor searching for the Robinsons. His concern grew as he searched from top to bottom then went outside of the ship and found them, to his surprise, having breakfast under a tent sharing laughter.

"Come on, Doctor Smith!" Will beckoned him on with a smile. "We are having breakfast."

"What's wrong with the meal synthesizer?" Smith asked.

"I uninstalled it." Maureen said. "Last few years, we haven't been eating together. That changes today."

"We eat as a crew." John said.

"We have another year left of our travel to Alpha Prime A." Maureen said. "So, since we are to co-exist under the same house, no construction necessary as someone has finished it for us, we can eat together. Might as well start and be able to adapt once we get there."

Smith took a few cautious steps down the platform from the Jupiter 2 then sat in the offered seat left open by Will.

It was strange and odd event that changed how the rest of the voyage went when it came to meals.

Even stranger, Smith felt a sense of belonging that he couldn't quite get rid of.

* * *

"Good morning, Doctor Smith." Penny said.

"Good morning, dear Penelope." Smith replied descending down the ship holding the small hand of Blarp a few days later. "Couldn't keep them bound inside. Cabin fever."

"Tie them up over there." John said.

"So I shall." Smith replied with a small smile. "Come along, dear Blarp."

Smith turned away from the family then brought the monky toward a tree and proceed to tie the rope around the bark---then collapsed unexpectedly as the family ate their breakfast with intent. Blarp came over to the man's side then nudged him by the shoulder. Blarp raised their head up, their bright blue eyes growing alarmed and scared, then waved at them.

"Blip! Blip! Blip! Pretty girl! Pretty girl! Pretty girl!"

"Look, Blarp finally said something!" Will said.

"Go Penny!" Judy said with a smile until she saw the fallen figure. It was instant that the doctor was by his side and checking his vitals. "Penny, get me the med scanner!"

Penny fled inside then returned as the family crowded around the fallen figure.

"What is wrong with him?" Will asked.

"Med scanner says his heart restarted." Judy said.

"Restarted?" John asked.

"That is not right." Maureen said. "He hasn't had a heart attack. Or a stroke recently."

"His heart beat is different." Judy noted with a frown. "It is not like the one on his record."

"What kind of heart beat is it?" Don asked.

"I don't know how else to say this," Judy said. "But it's like he has additional heart." She showed him the scanner.

"That is odd." Don said.

"Get him inside," Judy said. "Will, Don, if you like. He might need a few days in sick bay and a blood test."

Don and Will lifted the older man to his feet then moved him inside of the Jupiter 2.

* * *

It was later that same day the Robinsons exchanged a glance with each other as he rested in sick bay; his skin pale, his hair planted along his skin, and his skin sweating as if fighting a infection. Judy looked from the computer with a frown. She turned away then joined the family.

"No infections." Judy said.

"My newly installed medical scanners indicate there is foreign bodies in them." Robot reported. "Benign in nature."

"Space bacteria." Judy said.

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"I can give him antibiotics," Judy said. "It's all up to him if he is going to wake up in the morning after breaking the fever."

"He will wake up." Will said. "I know he will. He woke up from his coma. Robot, Penny, let's go explore the landscape."

The young members of the crew departed the room leaving the older members of the crew exchanging glances then exited the room.

All except for Blarp left hanging around on the chair alongside Smith.

* * *

Smith woke up that following morning; but everything is different, it felt different, it felt as if he is sharing his body with someone else. He took a well deserved shower before leaving sick bay. It was morning when he came down and greeted the Robinsons with smiles, no sign of illness, or distress joining them at the table. It's the last that he recalls until he came to and found his fork in the major's hand over the swearing coming from him then yanked it out just as he had _seen_ it. He dropped it with his trembling hand and left the scene over Don's furious shouting.

He ran, so far away, until he came to a stream and clenched at his chest feeling like his heart was being changed in some way. Absorbed. And it was so feeling so different from how it felt on most days to him as he closed his eyes. It was different from the agony that the spider mutation had put him through. He opened his eyes and looked down spotting a creature resting below him on the surface, staring back at him where his reflection should be, in his clothes.

"Like the beast that you are?" came a voice from the wide, bug alike, and alien head. "The beast that you want to tame?"

Smith was too stunned to speak.

"The beast who can protect you?"

It had two mandibles to his eyes and it was hideous compared to John's artwork of his counterpart.

And it looked familiar.

Smith summoned the strength to try speaking but nothing came out.

"Your mind is the one that needs protecting."

He frowned.

"I can protect myself very well, thank you, dear sir. Done a very good job so far."

His mind snapped in realization and realized why it looked so familiar. Smith had seen it in the Sakkiji restaurant at the Gangaskans home planet as a painting and the waiter had relayed the tale. Aliens that promised greatness for the well being of their host and came in the most inconvenient times. Aliens that had their certain costs.

"How about I help you? You are scared and unsure of yourself." The Sakkiji offered. "Shield you? You'll never be hurt again." Smith was trembling. "It's just the feelings I will cover over."

Smith weighed it, carefully.

"No. You got in. Now, you have to get out."

The Sakkiji made a strange sound that could have been laughter.

"Think I can leave? I can't! I can't be removed! You're stuck with me, Doctor Smith! Take my offer before it's too late."

"Doctor Smith!" Will called. "Are you okay?"

Smith leaned forward, a moment of weakness, feeling pain coming from every fiber of his being then turned toward Will.

"Stay away from me, please!" Smith plead, holding a hand up. "I don't want to hurt you."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you about Don." Will said. "It's unlike you."

Smith stepped away from the younger man.

"Just, please, stay away from me?" Smith said. "Pretty please? I am not myself. And I am not safe."

"I can do that, Doctor Smith." Will asked. "Is this far enough?"

"Yes." Smith said. "Far enough from a terrifying monster."

Will frowned as Smith turned away then walked on.

"Are you going down that path, seriously?" Will asked, approaching the older man, quite annoyed. "Doctor Smith, did you get into something I don't know about when we were away?"

"I said; STAY AWAY FROM ME." Smith roared turning toward Will.

Will stopped then watched him go on and grew concerned then followed after him to watch over him carefully.

* * *

It was night when Judy, Robot, and Don found where Smith was after Will had left him be. Don overheard the man whimpering from within the small cavern and it was then, that Don knew, whatever was going on was frightening him not just them. And he had no idea just as they did why he had broken character and stabbed him in the hand. It was Judy who went into the cavern leaving Don behind using a solar lantern with a laser pistol.

"It's okay." Judy said. "It's me."

"Doctor Robinson?" Smith asked, cautiously.

"In the flesh." Judy said. "Are you okay?"

"Keep your distance." Smith warned.

"I can stay this far until I know how you are doing." She was narrowly close to him and he stepped back then she stepped forward.

"My dear. . ."

"Yes, Doctor Smith?"

"I feel that I picked something up on the planet we were on prior to my wounds." Smith admitted. "Something is using me like a puppet against my own will and I feel it is worse than the spider I was to become. Something that made me stab the major at the hand earlier at breakfast."

"What kind of something is it?" Judy asked, concerned.

"I don't know." Smith shrugged. "I move but I am not in control---"

"And you are afraid of something that is out of your control." Judy cut him off then Smith nodded. "Life can be that way."

"Yes." Smith agreed. "Moreover, this isn't life. This is a parasite of some sort."

"How do you know it's a parasite?" Judy asked.

"Gut feeling." Smith said.

"If it's a parasite then I may need to have you quarantined and do some biopsy to determine what it is." Judy said.

"And if it isn't?" Smith asked.

"Then you're having some pretty serious mental problems," Judy said. "You might have a case of a split personality."

"But, I am in control now, aren't I?" Smith asked, hopefully. "For now at least?"

"Yes. . . You are, Doctor Smith." Judy said. "You are stronger than you look."

"What if it grows stronger and I can't be in control of myself much longer?" And he sounded so afraid that it concerned her deeply.

"Do you have another Kiss Bliss addiction?" Judy asked.

"No." Smith shook his head.

"Then it won't." Judy said, certain.

"It's not a addiction, madame." Smith replied. "It's a creature and I am more afraid than I have ever been."

Judy patted on his shoulder.

"It will pass." Judy said.

"And if it does not?" Smith asked, meekly.

"You can do a trust fall." Judy suggested. Smith relaxed then he smiled almost sweetly. "I will catch you."

"Promise?" Smith asked.

"I promise." Judy said. "Quarantine until we are sure?"

Smith nodded in agreement.

"A month of quarantine is worth the trade of finding out what is wrong with me, my dear doctor." and his comment earned a smile.

"I will get the quarantine equipment for your cabin ready." Judy said.

"Keep the major away from me, please. Just for the event of my split personality returns." Smith said. "My protective one."

Judy nodded then went out of the cavern.

"Don, go back to the Jupiter 2." Judy said.

"Why?" Don asked.

"He is feeling very guilty right now and is walking on egg shells." Judy said. "He is very tense. Afraid that whatever happened this morning will happen, again."

And Don complied with a nod.

* * *

To protect them from what Smith saw from time to time in the mirror, he erected walls in the form of quarantine.

The walls decorated in plastic wrapping except for the bed that was left to remain the way it was.

Will stared in confusion behind the door as Judy explained the reasoning behind the quarantined doorway that belonged to Doctor Smith.

Smith heard the siblings discuss the matter as he had his ear against the wall listening to his plan come to being. He listened in pity to the confused boy. It wasn't supposed to be this way, he apologized. It was his battle lines that were drawn. He erected a wall between him and _them_ before going to war with himself struggling to be in control. He had nothing left except for them. They were all he had and the strength that he gave them were all that he got.

A truly necessary move but one that was breaking his heart as he sunk down to the floor listening to them walk away silently pleading not to be left alone. But, the price of speaking to the creature that had became a parasite in his mind was having hours alone to it and sway over staying in him. Fight the creature if necessary in the mind with what little mental training that they had acquired in the last few years. Will wasn't a boy but a twenty-one year old man and his sister was a full decade older than him.

Smith was getting older and braver doing things he wouldn't have done eleven years ago and perhaps a little wiser. Wiser than how younger self would have done, embraced it, welcomed the monster; no, he wasn't going to welcome the monster. He was going to fight and fight and fight and fight until he forged himself a welcoming Smith that was a little insane or a little too alien to be alien. And whatever was going on with him had to be the most disturbing process that he went through.

He was given meals by Robot. Smith used the bathroom with the supervision of Robot making sure that there was a tunnel leading toward it with the proper equipment. Lengths that concerned the Robinsons and annoyed the major to no end. If they only knew and could believe for a moment what was going on then they would have understood. Smith suspected they wouldn't have understood.

For now, he could wage war against the beast personally on his own territory giving it all that he had. Lengths that served as a emergency against the unknown that he could attempt to sway away with resistance in the mental landscape of a barren planet with looming rock towers and the weather of the planet against the beast. Through all of the obstacles that Smith had drawn it on to, it kept on the battle.

The process started in full throttle in his bones not just his fiber one lone night as pain that forced him to flop out of bed and bite into a towel that he had sneaked in before the quarantine. Something had started inside of him and the quarantine was going on. And he panted as sweat dripped down his skin. Little light was in his quarters as he stepped out then went out into his living room rubbing his shoulder into the darker half.

* * *

Smith was standing still in the dark with one hand on his shoulder feeling vulnerable.

It was uncertain and terrifying being all alone in the dark.

_What is going on?_

He wasn't quite sure; the last that he recalled was being in pain and going into the living room of his stateroom.

And the rest were foggy.

And then he remembered---

* * *

_"William. Penelope."_

_"Yes, Doctor Smith?"_

_The young man looked up toward his perch on the ledge of the mountain looking up toward Smith and so did his older sister._

_"Are you feeling tired again?"_

_Smith regarded the two._

_"That battle," Smith replied. "the one I informed you of after being taken out of quarantine."_

_"What about it?" Penny asked._

_"I have lost it." Smith replied._

_"Lost?" Will asked, concerned._

_"Yes." Smith replied._

_"Will you take medicine then?" Will asked._

_"It could help you." Penny voiced._

_"Your elder sister failed to find it the first time," Smith replied, pained. "What makes you think that she will find it?"_

_"I have a pretty good feeling that she will." Will said._

_"And so do I." Penny said. "This time, it is not evasive. It is in the open and making its moves."_

_"It's been months since the initial scan, Doctor Smith," Will said. "Things change."_

_"I can't persuade you two from not sticking around me, can I?" Smith asked._

_The young adults grinned, nodding their heads, their eyes glinting._

_"Nope." Penny replied._

_"Alright then, my dears," Smith said as the children got up to their feet. "Help me up. I can't seem to move on my own."_

_"Sure." The children replied._

_"For everything I have put you through with my quarantine, that I haven't made up for." Smith said._

_"Yes, you have." Penny argued as she and Will helped the older man up and balanced him up. "Allowing us to hang out with you."_

_"And that is just for starters, Doctor Smith." Will agreed._

_Smith looked down upon them by his sides then smiled, fondly, endearingly back at them._

_"Let's go home." Smith walked on ahead of them._

_Smith started to stumble down to his feet with a cry but were caught by the siblings lacing his arms on their shoulders._

_"Are you feeling alright, Doctor Smith?" Will asked._

_"No." Smith replied. "I do not, my dear boy."_

_"Where does it hurt?" Penny asked._

_"Everywhere." Smith complained. "Oh dear, we should have taken along the booby."_

_"It's okay, Doctor Smith." Will said. "I ordered Robot to keep his distance and have his sensors on for alarm if trouble heads out away. In fact, he is waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain."_

_"Smart idea, William." Smith replied with a laugh.  
_

_The trio walked down the pathway leading down the mountain for several hours then met up with Robot at the bottom. They slipped Smith on to the Robot's back then he clung on with intensity with a pained groan. Penny kept a hand on his shoulder looking on in worry for him as Will had a hand on his laser pistol looking on the area around them as they continued their way for the Jupiter 2. Penny looked toward him in worry as Smith was fading in and out as the sky grew dark above them._

_"Will?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"I am scared for him."_

_"Me too."_

_"We're getting close." Will said. "Let's slip him off. Can you do that?"_

_"Oooh." Smith groaned. "The pain. I think so."_

_Smith unlatched himself from off Robot's chassis then started to fall and this time, he were caught by Penny and lifted him up to his feet._

_"Robot, tell Judy to get sick bay ready!" Penny ordered._

_"Affirmative." Robot said._

_Robot wheeled on ahead of them as they walked on taking their time._

_"Everything is going to be alright, Doctor Smith." Will said._

_"I hope so, my dear boy." Smith said. "Oh dear. . ."_

_"It will be." Penny said, optimistically._

_Smith's arms were set on the shoulders of the children with his head lowered feeling a headache coming forth from all over his head. It was the most disturbing one of all. His bones ached in agony and felt as if they were preparing to move. Or more else, beginning to move, all on his watch. His eyes fluttered closed then open seeing the Jupiter 2 getting closer._

_"Man, you are heavy, Doctor Smith." Will said.  
_

_"Don't insult a person's given weight, William." Smith said, weakly.  
_

_Will looked toward his friend in alarm at the man's lack of being animated or angry; he just sounded tired._

_"You're sounding a bit under the weather." Penny commented._

_"I suppose. . . after all that fighting . . . Sore all over, tired, bruised. . ." Smith said. "I am a bit defeated."_

_"You just need some rest, Doctor Smith." Will said. "That feeling will go away in a short while."_

_"Children. . ." Smith started.  
_

_"Yes, Doctor Smith?" The children replied.  
_

_"I need a hug." Smith whimpered.  
_

_"We can do that." The children said.  
_

_The young adults turned toward him and embraced him in a hug. Smith clung on to them, smelling the cologne and the perfume, both of which were distinctive and them in their nature. He embraced their warmth and the positive feelings that they were giving them. A feeling that he deeply cherished. He clung to them as if there wasn't going to be a tomorrow. Just as the Sakkiji was telling him; _'there isn't going to be a tomorrow as a weak being.'

 _And he cried, silently, then wiped the tears off feeling so sore and battered from the battle in the mind._ _He had lost and it felt so bitter. And he wanted to rest as he was doing his best to keep the beast at bay with his back against the door to the main component of his being in front of it. With a bang, the creature burst open the door then cleared the control room and picked him up then carried him close against it's chest as he let the Sakkiji in._

_His eyes drifted away toward his hands set on their shoulders. Smith's eyes flashed open as he saw his fingers expanding in size and width becoming blue with veins that were becoming more apparent as it became fat, chubby, covered in wrinkles. Smith yanked his arms off the children with a pained short scream stumbling back catching them off guard as the rapid growth went underneath his sleeves forcing his body to become enlarged causing fabric and clothing to rip in two falling off his figure as though it were a curtain that was latched on with fasteners._

_His boots ripped open with force revealing the bubbling mass that flattened the rubber to the ground. Smith threw his head back with a single cry of pain then fell to his knees putting his massive ha_ _nds on the ground with moving veins, nerves, and skin. T_ _he sound of Penny's terrified and horrified shriek echoed causing the members at the Jupiter 2 to freeze at first then run after the source of it as she shrieked on again._

_Smith looked down helplessly toward Will and Penny, wincing, trapped, as he felt what little control over himself had slipped away. He was immobilized by the change that was rapidly changing him in a matter of what had to be a complete minute. It felt like minutes were passing instead of painful seconds that were a little too long. The children were immobilized by the shock just as he was in the sudden change in him.  
_

_He looked down toward them in regret; if he tried to say a word to the children then all that would come out would be a screech. Instead, the regret turned to defiance. What he wanted to be remembered as? As himself. Defiance gave him renewed strength._ _What little strength that he originally had left and gained, he fought against the transformation. All as nerves, blood vessels raised, portions of his face started to bubble as the heart that once was his heart was pounding loudly in his ears._

'Why have you started fighting, again? _' The Sakkiji said. '_ You have nothing left.' _  
_

'Never!' _Smith shot back._

'Don't you see?' _The Sakkiji said._ 'I am stronger than you! I can make you better!'

'Perhaps, but I am already better.' _Smith replied. '_ I am a better man because of them.'

'I will make you great. You can't fight much longer. I am stronger than most feelings.'

_His mind was focused on them so much that he neglected to reply._

'I can't win.' _Smith acknowledged. '_ But. I can fight to say goodbye!'

_It climbed up to his neck as John abruptly appeared then yanked back Will from beside him with Don taking Penny away from Smith's side bringing them in the path of the Jupiter 2. Smith fought back from within his mind that represented the change._

_He was struggling to put the creature at bay while he clawed into from sinking further into him. Smith_ _was shoving it's chest off him with a powerful struggle wrapped in the embrace of the creature using his long bent but sinister fingernails to his advantage left over in his mind from the spider mutation._

_He forced the change back with a desperate struggle retreating from below his neck and allowing him to fully breathe.  
_

_"Rem-r--rem---rem---rem--remember----remember me the way I was before. I beg of you! Please!" _

_John looked up toward the older man then nodded._

_"We will, Smith."_

_"Thank you, my dear Professor." Smith let go of a small smile with a flinch quite calmly then regarded the major. "Dear, dear, dear Major."_

_"Warning!" Robot announced. "Warning! Alien life form is being born! DANGER!"_

_Will struggled between his father and Don as Judy kept Penny back, "_ _Doctor_ _Smith, don't let go!"_

_"Please, don't let go!" Penny cried. "We can remove it in sick bay! We can get the parasite out! We can remove it! Just don't stop fighting!"  
_

_Smith regarded them for one last time ahead of him with a tired bittersweet smile._

_"Adieu, my dears." He struggled to lift his arm up with what little strength that he could muster and waved at them as the children were dragged away. "For . . . ." he gulped, sorrowfully, weakly. "now."_

_"Into the ship!" John ordered._

_Pain couldn't tame him, it couldn't hurt him, it could not bother him as he watched them being towed into the ship. It was their battle now. His arm fell to his side as he smiled at them, fighting for one last stand, to go out as himself as he started to relax his jaw. And he was so tired. He needed to rest.  
_

'Yes. Rest. Let me take over.'

_" **NoooOOooo**!" Will cried as he was forced inside. _

_And he caught the young man crying._

_He had forgotten who he had been fighting for all along. Not for himself. But, for them. It was all for them, Smith realized. He looked on helplessly toward his changing figure that was consuming him. Then back toward the doorway as the image of Will's tears echoed in his mind. I don't want him to cry because of me. And his decision became final._

_Judy came out the doorway at the sound of his sudden screaming and watched as he shrunk back to normal size._

_"Hold on." Don stopped her with a hand. "Give him five minutes, doc."_

_"He needs medical attention." Judy argued._

_"We need to see if this will stick for five minutes." Don said._

_Judy and Don turned their attention off each other then looked toward Smith, watching him pant, with Will watching readily from the bridge of the craft. Smith looked up toward the craft with a weak smile then his shoulders slumped. The children grew hopeful smiles then so did Don and Judy as the minutes ticked by then they started to go after him._

_Smith closed his eyes, lowering his head, keeping his smile faintly sensing that it was starting all over again._

_This time, he allowed it in a state of exhaustion._

_And the parasite consumed him with his dignity within a minute._

* * *

He could recall the sound of Don's screams and Penny's startled shriek that jolted him to the fact that something was wrong shortly after the memory had crossed his mind. But, he didn't know what had gone wrong. There was no canvas to show the source. It was nothing that made sense and connected to a understandable narrative.

In what he could gather as events that happened later, he recalled the sound of laser pistols, Will's pleading, Will's desperate attempts to remind him of who he was before and of the good times, Robot's wailing of danger, and Maureen calling out for John. All indicators of a attack that he were forced to be part of.

He could hear the creature now from behind him. 

He can feel it's long unnatural crooked, sinister, fat and sharp claws clenching against his chest digging into the uniform.

"See? They have tried to eliminate you with me. Even with a potential protector for your mental well being."

Smith's eyes flashed open as everything came to then thrashed out of the grip of the claw and flipped out of the Sakkiji's grasp.

"Ow!"

The Sakkiji growled then caught him by the ankle yanking him back.

"You'll pay for that. You know what we do to those who lose? We eat their souls. We finish them off so they don't anew."

Smith dug into the ground as he was yanked forward, desperately, terrified with little reciprocation from the ground beneath him and he was starting to let go against the floor had became rock beneath his fingers.

 _"Doctor Smith, please hang on."_ Will's deep voice broke through the dark as if he were there. _"Don't let go all the way."_

Smith raised his head up. 

"William!" Smith exclaimed. "My dear boy!"

 _"We're not going to let you go so easily."_ Will added.

Smith slid his foot out of the boot. Smith ran after the source of the voices that were more distant than Will's but sounded muffled and static filled. He could hear medical equipment going on and off then fell to his knees and crawled further on his knees and hands, tired, sore, struggling.

 _"I know you're tired but you have to fight a little harder. It's over. We got it out."_ Will replied.

Smith forced himself up stumbling forward.

"Do you think they will accept your horribly halfway turned back form?"

Smith came to a pause about three feet over the edge and gasped at lay below him. Smith saw his figure on the operating table with portions that were being operated on by the Robinsons using medical tools to take out things from within him. Judy was focused on the heart pumping with her sleeves rolled up. She was giving a valiant effort to resuscitating the older man as the family were hooking in another bag of blood up.

They were fighting for his life.

Then he turned toward the creature, crest fallen.

"Oh heaven's. . ."

It stood roughly at ten feet tall with a forehead crest, two long antennas, long and wide front leg supporting the heavy body similar to a small pit bull with powerful hind quarters like a horse, and veins that stood out along the body. It had a unique head with two long horns, the head was wide with mandibles that were narrow, and small eyes that were set on the side; it was a prey.

The front legs reminded Smith of a pterodactyl, and the figure was coated in scales with colorful spikes that went in the color arrangement of orange, brown, and yellow standing out against the dark. It had a orange mane made of spikes that made a 'v' below the neck line that was long and deep even pointy.

He looked over the edge spotting his disfigured appearance that was shackled into the biobed.

The Robinsons surrounded him aiding in Judy's effort with Robot keeping his defense system up.

His head barely looked human, in fact, it looked like a Sakkiji.

Smith fell to his feet in mourning with a agonized heartbroken scream. 

"Do you see? They would try to change you to what they are not leave you as who and what you are."

Smith reeled the feelings closed his eyes and his hands rolled up into fists then he proceeded to laugh as the Sakkiji proceeded to yank him back.

"Family is really not in your book, isn't it?" Smith asked then turned toward the Sakkiji with a mischievous glint.

"Love is, hate is, sadness, despair, distress," The Sakkiji said. "The word family means differently."

"What does it mean to you?" Smith asked.

"To be accepted as yourself. No changes. No attempts to perfect what is already perfect."

"I didn't have a choice in this matter as _you_ took over me. Overtook me, that is! That is why they are fighting against every cell in my body against you!" Smith kicked at the Sakkiji's face in emphasis repeatedly with his sole remaining boot until the creature shrieked stepping back. Smith lifted himself up to his feet as the creature stepped back. "But, I can make a choice for how I want to appear to others!"

The Sakkiji stepped back.

"It would be strange, I admit to that!" Smith held up a finger. "And odd to have me this way!"

He looked down toward the operating room watching the family operate on the wounds that their teamwork had done to subdue him.

"But at least, we would discover how to navigate that new life together." Smith lifted his gaze upon the creature with a smile. "At least, we would have each other."

The Sakkiji lunged forward and he dodged the creature in a game of cat and mouse. Smith did this for a good while until the creature caught him by the ankles and held him up in the air five feet from the creature. Smith squirmed in the Sakkiji's grasp with a scowl. He looked toward the direction of the bright lighting then felt a uncomfortable crunch from his legs and saw that it had chopped off his foot. He yelped, loudly, then his eyes flashed open observing how long the spikes were.

Smith grinned then grabbed out two of the spikes with ease then jabbed one of them into the Sakkiji's eye as it grasped on to his knee cutting it off with ease and swallowed. The Sakkiji's eyes flew open then threw him aside. Smith used the needle as his support with the rounded edge below his arm pit then picked up the fallen additional needle and quickly sprinted toward the edge.

The Sakkiji was going to be gone soon as he fell if the myth behind the desert that was offered to him had any credibility. Given that it was right behind the exotic rarity then it was credible. Extremely credible.

He turned around once on the edge then faced the creature that flung it's head and stared at him in righteous rage.

"Why?"

"Because they are company I _like_ to be around, feelings hurt or not, you tall moronic booby. Farewell."

Smith crossed his arms against his chest with a grin and fell off the edge.

"NOOO!"

_I'm coming home._

And Smith was welcomed into the abyss of what was his shell like a old friend.

 _Lup-dup lup-dup lup-dup_ came forth with a single determined squeeze and it went on.

* * *

"I caught him!" Judy shouted with glee over the operating table. "Stabilized." She looked up toward her family. "Got all the lead bullets?"

"Got my side." Penny said.

"Mine too." Will chimed in.

"We got the legs clear of the Sakkiji muck," John said.

"Arms are clear." Don reported. "No bullets or Sakkiji are left over."

The creature's glassy eyes opened, tapping its mandibles with a click, and Judy loomed over.

"Doctor Smith?" Judy asked.

Everyone stared at the resting creature that groaned.

"We're okay." Will said. "Don's arm was regenerated."

"Working good as new." Don said. "Asides to relearning how to use it."

"Got some kinks to work out." Judy said. "With time, it will be as if he never lost it."

The creature clicked raising it's head up half way staring at the major then it fell back into the dark. 

"Robot," John looked toward the machine behind them. "Translate."

"Sorry about the arm, my dear Major." Robot reported.

The family cheered then went to work stitching him up as a team with Judy's careful supervision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Linkin Park - Waiting For The End really helped. again.


	6. Resting and awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be about leading into a trust fall with Prof Maureen Robinson but this chapter felt as if it could stand on its own in this short but technically long story.

Smith recovered in sick bay as days went by within the Jupiter 2as the colony ship returned into space. Judy looked over the features of a alien resting below her on the biobed. A head that once had been human then Sakkiji had been horribly mutated and mangled with little noticeable changes from the side of his head as though he were growing back ears. The sight brought a smile to her face.

Judy heard the familiar sound of the older man snoring from the creature watching the stitched up chest rise up and down. She reached her hand then grabbed a handful of the dark gray tunic that covered his chest. His hands were smaller but were still twice the size they were before. His figure was smaller before her eyes and scars that were slowly healing over his frame even the long scar across his forehead using a scalpel to subdue the creature that had consumed him and took control.

It was a bare reminder feeling the warm fabric that he was alive and recovering.

But the unearthly head stood out as a sore thumb to her mind's eye that was less worse than the one of watching him vanish.

Judy could still remember the man's skin popping out as enlarged portions of mass that didn't quite belong him was slowly spreading while he spoke, fighting it, to get the last word with dignity. She can still remember the mass that screamed in pain once his face was consumed that all too quickly replaced the calm but dignified smile. She can still remember fleeing from the scene with her family as Robot and the men escorted them back to the Jupiter 2.

She walked away leaving Robot to be on shift.

* * *

"Doctor Smith is awake." Robot announced once the Robinsons landed on another planet.

Will was the first of the family to run, quickly, like a child that had been informed someone important to them was back with certain glee in his eyes. He moved down the stairs with all too certain speed leading into the corridor of the ship speeding for the sick bay of the room. He came to a halt then grinned, from ear to ear, looking at the friend that was still quite _alien_. But in all; a Smith in whole.

He found the older man, unchanged since the last check up, groaning in the form of clicks as he came to, then bolted to his side as the older man prepared to lean forward and was abruptly caught by the frame of the young man. It was a sharp pain to the sore chest with a 'Ooof'. And a series of clicks that went along the lines, in Will's mind, of "William, you can't just barge in on a man recovering from surgery!"

"Sorry about that." Will apologized as he leaned out from Smith. "It's just. . . good to see you."

Smith's wide but narrow head tilted as he raised a eyebrow ridge.

"Have I been gone long?" were what his clicks sounded close to be.

"Uh, before or after the rescue mission?" Smith glared. "A year."

"A year?" his clicks sounded frantic. "A year! A yeaaar!"

"You kind of sent us running away after you attacked us in your new form."

Smith shook his head, protestingly, as his clicks went, "That wasn't me."

"Yeah, I know." Will replied. "We spent a couple months in space and on different planets just processing what had happened and how we were to best take care of the problem." He grimaced looking up toward the older man then sighed. "You have been out for a month since the surgery."

Smith slid up his tunic then lowered it down and gazed toward the boy with soft clicks, "Feels like it were just yesterday."

"Once we heard that it could be reversed, we just had to come back." Will said. "If only we thought of that earlier."

Smith shook his morphed hand with more clicks.

"What's in the past is in the past is what you are saying?"

Smith nodded with the group coming in to sick bay.

"So, how long would it take to get rid of the infection in his head, doc?" Don asked.

"A entire day of surgery," Judy said. "And we need to push through this operation as a team and prevent it from spreading any further."

Smith's eyes flashed open with several clicks. 

"He is asking if there are any permanent formations that he should be alarmed of." Robot said.

"We don't know for certain." Judy said.

The creature had a distinctive whine.

"We will have to feel our way through this one and record the post surgical results." Maureen said. "It's a new frontier and you get to be the first of us to be admitted in the record of xenobiology."

Smith dropped his head against the head rest of the biobed with a whine.

"He does not want to be." Robot said.

"Then you shouldn't have eaten the Gangaskans's exotic desert, Doctor Smith." Judy replied.

Smith glared back at Judy with clicks.

"Who's idea was it to go there?" Robot reminded in the translation. "I seem to recall the rave reviews that you gave it." Smith pointed a finger at Judy. "You made everything sound good!"

"Mistake on my part." Judy said, sheepishly. "I thought they had safe meals for everyone over indulge on."

"So did I." John said with a nod. "Which is why we had thorough examinations after your transformation to check for any parasites."

"Our record came up clean." Maureen said.

"A full bill of health compared to you." Judy said.

"He is asking how long that he needs to rest." Robot requested.

"If you can walk then that means you can get out of bed." Judy said.

Penny held her hand out then Smith took her hand and Will helped in balancing him to his feet.

"Not that hard, isn't it?" Robot translated Smith's clicks.

Smith took a step forward landed on the side of his face with his legs dangling in the air as his finger hunched over beside Will and the rest of the Robinsons laughed, so did Robot, and the major at the older man's failure.

Robot leaned over then helped the man's figure get rightened up to his feet then he fell forward on to the biobed.

Will helped Smith back on to the edge of the bed

"We will be at Alpha Prime in the following year if you don't fall into trouble, Smith." Don reported.

"I doubt that I will be of any exploring with all this bed rest." Robot translated once more. "Oh, the pain. The pain."

"Since you are still recovering and healing, I like to do the operation when you are on your feet." Judy said. "If that is alright by you."

"Preferable, my dear Doctor." Robot translated with Smith's nod.

The Robinsons parted ways from Smith with a laugh then left the room and went on surveys.

"Like to play chess, Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

Smith slid his legs on the biobed then looked toward the younger man. He was twenty-one and Smith wasn't getting any younger. A miracle that Smith was now approaching fifty, now forty-nine, instead of dying long ago in the beginning from his desperate attempts to get home when home was with him all along and he feared it was too late that he realized this. All that wasted time brought shame upon him. A tinge of regret sunk into the man's stomach as he lowered his gaze as he mulled it over.

Time was very little when it came to him and the Robinsons. Smith knew that. It was never meant to last with them. And one of these days, Smith were going to get himself killed and have little good memories to leave behind. But, he could change that this moment. Leave plenty of good memories behind that outweighed the bad memories. Satisfied with the train of thought, he lifted his head up then nodded back at the younger man who grinned in return and fled the room.

"Booby." Smith clicked, turning his gaze to the machine. "You seem to know that we have established a cycle."

"That, we have." Robot said. "Not intentionally."

"I need you to do me a favor." Smith said.

"List it." Robot said.

"The next time I . . ."

Robot knew where it was going.

"The next time you are in the position of harming the Robinsons beyond your control, you wish for me to destroy you before you can do it to them." Smith lowered his head down in regret. "Is that correct?"

"I spent lots of time with them in the beginning, my dear boobed friend." Smith nodded with his reply. "Now, I am spending _less_." Smith lifted his head up to the machine with his hands in his lap. "And I am certain that. . . That the next big event could happen soon."

"And this time they will be closer to Alpha Prime A." Robot replied.

"Exactly what I am thinking." Smith replied. "They might be hours or days away when it happens."

Robot's helm twirled then bobbed his helm up.

"I got your back, Doctor Smith." Robot responded.

"You mean that you will catch me when I need it." Smith replied.

"Affirmative." Robot reached a claw out for Smith then Smith squeezed it with a trembling hand. "I am scared about that day happening, too."

Smith looked upon the machine then inwardly smiled and released the claw as Will's footsteps were heard coming to the sick bay.

"I got it!" Will called.

"Ah, my dear boy." Smith said. "Right on time."

"Took me awhile to find this." Will admitted. "I think I hid it from the last visitor we had who had a kleptomaniac streak going on." He looked up from the box. "But, this will help you."

"Wonderful way of retraining my mind to be adjusted to using my hands for small meager tasks." Smith said. "William, set up the table, please."

Will sat down into the chair and Robot set himself beside Will. The young man slipped the table in front of them and put the chessboard on the top. He slid out the pieces of the chess board out and decorated the table with black and white pieces on top of the checkered surface. From behind the mandibles, behind the skull, within his mind; Smith smiled, fondly, upon the young man. 


	7. Uncertainty of returning normal

Weeks passed with Smith at bed rest then graduating into walk again.

His body felt different and contrasting against what each part used to be.

There were days that he went to the grand canyon all alone and screamed out all of the pain that he were feeling when he could walk then fall to the ground. He walked on fours from time to time with the way that his figure was now set in and it was difficult to walk up to his feet. But, one that he had help with on the matter using a back support took that was hooked into Robot's spine and made sure that he stood.

Then they were back in space and resuming the voyage.

Penny took his morphed but trembling hand that wasn't quite human and squeezed it.

Smith looked over toward the woman that he called a companion on some shifts looking upon her, unsure.

"Is anything ever going to be same again?" his clicks came out in concern and worry.

Penny paused, trying to decipher what they could possibly mean, tilting her head then she smiled once she recognized the tone of voice.

"It is the same, silly Doctor." Penny said. "Nothing changed about you. You may look different.. . ." She reached her hand out to his shoulder as she leaned forward then smiled. "But, you are the same man I have known for five years."

Smith started to sniffle then Penny handed him a handkerchief.

"Thank you, my dear child."

Smith cried into the handkerchief as she rubbed his back and he cried harder.

_What did I ever do to deserve kindness from the people that I tried to kill?_


	8. The process of finding a normal

The Jupiter 2 came to a descent down to the next planet on the route to Alpha Prime A a month later. The family disembarked the craft once Robot performed preliminary checks with the spider-like space pod and returned after giving them the green light. Penny was the first to exit with Blarp holding her hand as they came down from the lower deck of the Jupiter 2 to the ground of the new planet.

Smith hitched a ride alongside Robot with his arms folded then looked on with his hands trembling and the aching all over him was in the process of stopping. He rubbed his hands with a inward smile in anticipation of being able to completely walk along the area and explore the landscape.

"Ah. The fresh air!"

Robot slid the man up to his feet earning a yelp as the device attached to his back and the support bind held the older man up to his feet. 

"Let's go do some rock hunting, Doctor Smith." Will said.

Smith clicked, looking toward the machine, glaring at him and rubbed at the device hooked into his back as they walked on.

"Care to ask before you put me in, booby?" Smith asked.

"Didn't bother you before." Robot said. "Getting back to being yourself, that is good, you are minding being picked up."

"I have always minded being picked up!" Smith replied.

"Lately, you haven't." Robot said over Will's grinning.

"You have some fancy revision of the past, you faulty nincompoop." Smith said twirling a finger alongside his ear.

"Let's do some exploring." Will lead them on with a grin.

Judy watched them go with a smile.

"So, Doctor Robinson." John said. "How soon can we do the head operation?"

"In a few days." Judy looked on watching them become distant and Penny went with them alongside Blarp. "Four, I feel."

"Four days." John said. "That is going to be another wild adventure."

"I will need all the help I can get with it." Judy said. "It can be another family adventure into Smith, if you like."

"If you need more than your hands and Robot's claws to get them out in time then I am sure that we can all pitch in," Maureen wrapped her arm around John's waist.

"The Robinson Cruisoe." John said. "One into the body of a man instead of a alien planet."

"However," Judy said. "We need to do some simulations for that operation."

"Whatever you need, we will do." John said. "Must be less difficult than the previous operation."

"No." Judy said. "It is easy."

"Easy." Maureen said. "That is a refreshment."

John and Maureen grinned in unison at the prospect.

"How about we start those simulations?" Don asked. "And learn about what not to touch?"

"I can go with that." John said. "I am not that keen into the parts of the head and neck."

"But one we can learn together." Maureen said.

"Sure." Judy said.

And the family went back inside of the Jupiter 2.


	9. A new normal found

"Ah, my dear boy, the day that I can speak and talk like everyone else is a day that I will grossly celebrate and get drunk over."

"Sure you will." Will chuckled over Robot's translation.

"Being able to move my mouth---" Smith stopped himself as he rubbed his twisted mandibles with a wince. "I don't know how my jaw could regrow back."

"It will." Robot assured. "It will take time. A lot of time. And you will have to be under for the process to be completed."

"I look forward toward that experience." Smith said. "I pray that it is nothing how that thing. . . "

Will and Penny winced at once (over the memory of running toward him only to be forced to a halt by John and Judy then screaming in heartbreak at the tall and large mass) as the man twirled his slowly transitioning to back fingers in mid-air.

"Parasite? Monster?" Smith searched for the right words. "What not---consumed me."

"It could be." Robot said.

"Thank heavens I will be out for that!" Smith said.

"We have found grounds to harvest Blarp's nutrition." Robot announced.

"Tree bark scraping time!" Will said.

They went toward their separate trees; Will and Penny went to one side of the forest while robot went to the other section with Smith. Smith took out his equipment and slid out the collapsible bucket from his pocket and pressed a button then watched it unfold until it were back to it's full size. He shoved off layers of the tree bark that fell one by one down to the bucket with a clatter. They went on to the next tree and performed the same ritual as before.

A loud noise caused Will and Smith to halt what they were doing turning in the direction of the source of a few officers in camouflage holding guns. Smith yelped then started to run but found himself restrained. Robot fired at the oncoming officers as Smith struggled to unravel himself out of the machine's grasp. He started to flee on all fours with a screech as the children fled in different directions.

Will fell to the ground with a thud feeling something smack against his back.

"Ah!"

Smith wheeled on his heels turning toward the younger man. 

"No!"

Smith came to the boy's side then lunged forward at the officers knocking them back away from him.

"Stay away from him!"

He smacked the officer away then the young man was stumbling up to his feet.

"Run, William!"

Will clenched against his stomach then ran on ahead over the shouting of the older man.

"RUN!"

Smith turned and fled after the younger man but he was trapped by a net and crashed to the ground. He watched the gorilla struggle in the netting as Penny ran on ahead of him and he struggled, then heard Will's screams, and he was electrocuted from within the netting. Smith threw his head back and shrieked in a fit of agony falling back to the ground. He distinctively felt being picked up and tossed into a truck.

"Traspassing on government property and think they can get away with it, eh?"

"What a strange alien we got here."

"William. . ."

Smith clicked then looked on spotting the young man was dragged in a net and thrown into the same truck that he was including Blarp. He searched for Penny and Robot among the crate finding little to no sign of either of them. He was electrocuted a second time then lowered his head catching sight of Will twitching and the sound of Will's shriek echoed in his head as he fell into the comforting black.


	10. A normal adventure

"Doctor Smith?"

Smith came to from his slumber and lifted his head up spotting the young man from across then clicked, concerned.

"I am okay. Are you?"

Smith nodded yet still looked over in concern.

"I feel sore all over."

Will rubbed the back of his neck as his friend was in the adjoining cell with wheels below it.

"Does it look like I got some wheels underneath my cell?"

Smith shook his head.

"Odd."

Smith lowered his head.

"It's okay. We all thought it was just a desert, Doctor Smith."

Smith whimpered.

"It is terrible how we got into this position,"

Smith jabbed a finger at his chest as he slunk.

"You might just be part of a beauty show or display."

Smith glared at the boy.

"For the generals or the president."

Smith approached the bars then grasped at the metal and tried to bend it to his will but struck the wall across from him. The deformed man huddled in the corner of the cell with his arms wrapped around the center of his legs. The older man was trembling, now. And Will couldn't help but be afraid for him.

"Whatever happens next, I am sure they will treat us well."

Smith looked up toward Will.

"I am sure of it!"

Smith sighed.

"It helps to have a bright mood about it." Will said. Will grew a bright smile. "You never know, we might get some genuine human food that we didn't have to hunt or scavenge for."

Smith lowered his gaze on the brink of tears.

"We won't be separated for long. I promise you that."

Smith approached the barrier then grasped his deformed fingers around the bars and his eyes held a apology that couldn't be spoken only seen.

"Yeah, I guess your mistake _did_ bring us here." Will admitted. 

Smith sighed, having little to say or do except tap on the bars, with his head hung low in shame.

"But if you hadn't done that then the asteroids from the gas planet Jupiter would have killed us on the way to Alpha Prime A." Will said. "If you hadn't done it then we wouldn't have been able to convince Global Sedition that we are on their side and won't kill the planet as humanity did last time."

Smith nodded.

* * *

Blarp navigated their way out of the facility then made a break for it in the treeline following the scent belonging to Penny. After several hours, they came to a pause then found the young woman running toward them. Blarp ran in the direction of the young young woman then leaped into her arms. Penny held on to Blarp's back with a smile the small lizard gorilla smiled then Penny ran back inside of the ship joining the rest of the family. The Jupiter 2 flew away from the area as officers chased after the area and followed the Jupiter 2.

"So," Don said, dodging blast after blast. "How are we going to get out of this one?"

"He has to be in that military base that Robot detected close by the capture site." John said.

"I have a idea." Judy said. "We send Robot in with some modifications to his form and extract Will and Doctor Smith."

"Are we going to make him Mr Spider Legs, again?" Don asked.

"No!" The family cried at once.

"I liked it." Robot complained.

"It was too creepy on you." John replied.

"And sinister." Maureen said.

"You and tank treads go hand in hand, Robot." Penny said.

"Alright, then what do we give him?" John asked.

"Parajets!" Judy said as the ship tore through the atmosphere and fled from the planet.

Maureen looked out the window.

"Hold on, men." Maureen said. "We're coming back for you."

* * *

Smith and Will were quiet for what felt to be hours. Silence hung between them. It was strange to be parted from Smith by a additional set of bars instead of sharing the same cell that they had spent time together many times before in the three eventful years they had been allowed together during his childhood. Smith was silent with nothing to say, no whine, just pure defeat, and fear that he wasn't going to see him again in the next five minutes. Smith extended his arms through the long bars as he continued to sulk leaning against the wall of the cell.

"Doctor Smith!" Will said. "Your arm is that long!"

Smith looked up then his eyes widened.

"We can get one of us out of here." Will said.

Smith looked toward him.

"Blarp." Will said.

Smith looked over spotting Blarp in a cage similar to Smith from across.

"Roll yours over and make them mirror your movements." Will said. "They like to copy you."

Smith extended his long arm and wheeled himself over to the gorilla then beckoned the gorilla over.

"Blip?"

Blarp walked on their four hands forward closer to the door and he pointed toward the lock then grasped his own lock.

"Blip."

Blarp grasped on to the lock and crushed it and electricity erupted then it fell off. The gorilla whimpered going toward the corner of the cage as Smith screeched waving a hand at the creature hurling insults between each screech that were unregistered to the human ear. Blarp crawled out of the cage then blended in with the surroundings.

"Blarp, however you do it. Go home! Get us a lift!"

"Blip."

Then it was quiet and they didn't hear a sound and Smith clicked, puzzled. 

"Blarp has left." Will sighed in relief.

Smith stretched his arms out in relief then wheeled himself over to Will's cell then began to pry the bars open.

"Doctor Smith, no." Will said. "I am not leaving without you."

Smith glared back toward the younger man then took his hand and squeezed it looking on pleadingly.

"My choice is to make it out of here with a friend." Smith yanked his hand back.

He pried the cell door open bending the bars to his free will only making enough room for Will's head to poke out. Smith fell back with sore arms and looked toward the younger man as a series of footsteps approached the room.

"Doctor Smith, hold on to my hand!" Will began to gamble on chance. "They won't take you if you refuse to let go!"

Smith's eyebrow ridges raised as his head bobbed up then nodded and took the young man's outstretched arm. He clenched his claws against the man's arm as Will returned the gesture with his other arm as the officer's entered the room.

"Cute."

The officers rolled their eyes then grasped the cart by the handle and proceeded to tug it away casually. 

Will watched his friend's grip slowly loosen then looked up toward his pained friend.

 _Let go, my dear boy,_ Will could easily the older man's comment.

 _No, Doctor Smith._ And the young man shook his head, defiantly. _Over my dead body!_

The door to Will's cell was flung open then he was approached. Will was struck multiple times with a hard, long, and blunt object. He cradled into fetal position over Smith's terrified shrieks. The officers left Will be then closed the door behind him. Will ran toward the door then struck the wall made of bars and he crashed to the ground. He watched as his friend was taken out of the room.

"No!" Will cried.


	11. Professor Maureen Robinson

Smith was put into a dark room. He held his small communicator in one hand waiting for a reply. Smith heard shouting from the corridor, "The ET is escaping!" And his hopes soared at the thought of Will having continued what he had started and forced himself out. Or have tricked them into letting him out. The young man wasn't exactly the kind of person who was interested in hurting people but when it regarded making hard choices; knocking them out wasn't a hard one at all.

The shrieking vanished in the distance across from him as his figure trembled in the dark praying for the Lord to spare the boy and let him get home. He heard bits of conversations that struck at him; the sound of the younger man's voice echoing through the small ear radio calling for his parents and the major for hours at a time until a conversation featuring the professor's voice came out of the bud. Smith's fingers were trembling over the sound of Will being happy. He heard the boy meet up with his mother then there was no sound.

He slipped the device with care back into the pocket and patted on it with care.

 _At least one of us is off this plane_ t, Smith told himself in reassurance. And his shoulders sulked.

The boy was convinced not to stay behind and fight for his extraction as they were out numbered and didn't have the necessary teamwork to do the operation. It was the only way and reason why he wasn't hearing any grunting coming alongside his cell. And he was all alone on the alien planet of alien strangers. 

Sorrow washed down upon Smith at the sad fact that was available to him.

 _It wasn't sadness_ , Smith realized, _it was bittersweet._

* * *

The lights flashed open, momentarily blinding Smith causing him to turn away shielding his eyes screeching, 'My eeeeeyyyyyyyyesss' that went unheard. Then a row of officers came in dressed in white uniforms with pips, badges, and armor that decorated some of the uniform far as he could see when his eyes finally adjusted.

It almost reminded him of a clean energy punk style with the shoulder pads. They each wore caps that were different from the other in terms of style and design choice. Smith wrapped his arms around his figure as he shrunk back and trembled. His eyes were watery as his nose started to sniffle above his twisted mandibles. He sneezed a couple times into his hands as he quietly started to weep in the corner of the room.

"This is the existential threat that we face out there, gentlemen." a tall man pointed a long item at Smith that jabbed into his shoulder.

And Smith retreated with a shriek putting himself into the corner of the cell with his heart racing.

"It was in the company of another member."

"What member, Colonel?"

"Their friend looked like a resident of this planet, but of course, were dressed differently of the uniform that they should be wearing as a civilians."

Smith looked over his shoulder spotting the men and women sitting there composed.

"Except the young man escaped along with the other creature they had been captured with."

"And what is this creature?"

"According to a blood test; it is a unusual hybrid of passun and creature of unknown origins."

There were murmurs from the crowd.

"Sir, are you saying this creature is . . ."

"No, not from here. This creature isn't from our world. He may be one of the common worlds that evolved from what we all did."

"Monkeys?"

"Yes."

"There are more people who evolved from monkeys?"

"That is what the evidence is telling us, sir."

"Then we ought to go out there and explore, anyway. Meet them."

"This passun is evidence that isn't a good idea."

"That passun got itself into that position." the general argued. "Even into our hands."

The crowd nodded in agreement.

"For now, that creature is a specimen of science and exploration." the general continued on gesturing toward the terrified older man. "We are pushing through with the colonization mission for the moon Kar-tue and selecting a family to try and live there for a few years before we send people to join them. Got the ship ready. We just need to evaluate the volunteers and train them."

"And what about the creature?"

"Send it to the xenologizological facility in Nai. We need to know what this creature is capable of."

Smith whimpered as the officers left the room and cried, powerless, to what was going on around him.

* * *

Smith was removed from the cage once everyone had exited then shackled, he was pinned by security officers then the restraints were put on and it became difficult to move. His stomach twisted and turned at the uncomfortable process happening as he screeched, desperately, pleading for release and promises that they couldn't hear. 

Smith raised up then looked down spotting that his neck was connected to a chain with a small but heavy cannonball that made it difficult to stand upright and his hands were cuffed together with his elbows, shoulders, joints protesting against the restraints. He was raised up to his feet feeling difficult to remain standing but he was forced to stand as his high legs protested against the force. 

"Right this way, alien."

He was forced out of the room through the corridor with a slow walk, little sighs, defeat as he went on to exit the facility. He trudged as he got out of the doorway with his head lowered then heard a familiar sound of plasma blast striking the ground around him. He looked up spotting Robot's upper half flying above the ground firing with a large plasma blaster hooked into his blast and he was illuminated by hope.

"Booby!" Smith cried. "I knew you would come back for me! I knew it!"

A large plasma blast struck Smith (and all the restraints and chains) sending him back taking the people carrying on to his restraints as well. Smith's back hit the nearby wall with a cry then slumped and shook of all the other restraints that fell off easily except for a few that served as wrist bands and ankle bands that had their hooks blasted off.

"Report to the cliff, Doctor Smith!"

"What cliff?"

"Ahead of you!"

Smith fell aside clenching on to his shoulder as the officer carrying a electrical gun fell back.

"You almost shot me, bubble headed booby!"

Smith ran on through the military facility but was lagged by the final restraint that threatened to keep him on the planet.

"Booby!" Smith collapsed to his knees looking up toward the machine, pleadingly. "Heeeelp! Heeeelp meee!"

Robot whirred toward Smith then fired at his direction as the security personnel fled toward him. The last restraint fell then Smith fled on all fours forward as Robot laid to waste a disaster among the facility. He climbed a wall then resumed fleeing down the terrain. Officers exited the facility on trucks then he slid the ear piece out of his pocket and held it close to his mandibles. 

"Can anyone hear me? Please? Someone! Answer me! Anyone!"

His clicks echoed over the comn.

"Doctor Smith is that you?"

"William!" Smith's mechanical but insect like clicks came over the comn. 

"Keep running, you're getting closer to the meet up!" Will replied. 

"Why not meet up now?" His clicks sounded confused.

"We need to keep low." Will said. "I will be waiting right for you at the door. I promise."

Smith came to a screeched halt over the cliff and staggered back with a shriek yanking his arms back. He stumbled back to the ground then landed to the grass. He clenched at his shirt taking in deep breaths and exhaling them as his heart pounded against his chest. He trembled in fear as he looked on toward the edge of the cliff ahead.

"Doctor Smith, jump!" Maureen said.

"Madame!" Smith's screech was the reply. And she had a rough idea what he meant. "That is reckless!"

"I will catch you!" Maureen said.

Smith looked over the edge as he stood up to his feet.

"It looks quite a long and unpleasant fall." Smith whinde.

"Not if I catch you it won't be." Maureen said.

"Oh dear!" Smith gasped covering his mandibles then looked on ahead searching for signs of the space pod. "If you catch me!"

"I will catch you!" Maureen said. "Now jump!"

"I am afraid of death!" Smith whined.

"Think of it as a trust fall!" Maureen said. "Would you like to die or be alive?"

"Alive, madame!" Smith replied. "Any day!"

"I am extremely close!" Smith winced from above looking down the dark gorge with still no signs of the space pod. "I will catch you!"

"She will, Doctor Smith!" Will agreed.

Smith turned in the direction of the soldiers firing at him then he crossed his arms and fell over the edge.

Smith closed his eyes squeezing his eyes shut anticipating for the unsettling feeling of his bones cracking all over again and dying for _real_ this time. Something, he didn't want this time with his physical and very real third fall when it came to the matter of Robinsons. He hoped that a miracle would happen. Any kind of miracle in which he survived but his nagging mind insisted nothing good was going to come down because of this.

Instead, he didn't crash. He felt the familiar grapples hook into his shoulders with a painful click. He opened his eyes then looked up spotting Will waving down upon him with a swollen eye and a grin resting alongside the door just as he had promised. Smith inwardly grinned, clicking, "William!" as the space pod flew into the sky.

* * *

Smith was helped up into the space pod then the door was closed before him. Smith heaved a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay, Doctor Smith?"

"My dear boy. . ." Smith clicked, taking the younger man's hand and was brought up to his feet then brought the boy into a hug. "I am doing excellent."

"We parked the Jupiter 2 a far ways off from where we originally parked it," Maureen said. "We are going to the neighboring moon for the supplies."

"Neighboring moon?" Smith tilted his head with confused clicks.

"It is just not worth staying on this planet long." Maureen said.

"Ah. I see." Smith broke off the hug with the young man then approached Maureen. "And . . ."

"Robot has some parajets installed so he will be on his way in a few moments." Maureen said. "By the time we leave the moon, you'll have your head back."

"Hear that, Doctor Smith?" Will asked. "You will look like yourself!"

"Being myself." Smith clicked. "Is a far ways off," he looked down toward his fingers. "With body parts like these."

"Judy tells me that walking on all fours should go away after the operation." Maureen said. "And your fingers will look human."

"Then you'll look like yourself, old man."

Will squeezed the deformed hands then Smith looked up toward the boy who was now a man. 

"Indeed!" Smith nodded then turned toward Maureen. "Madame. . . I know you can't understand me but; thank you."

"There is Robot." Maureen said. "Will! Open the door."

Will opened the door and Robot flew right in crashing against Smith who yelped then the door was closed behind him. 

"Why you misdirected mess of mechanical parts!" Smith cried. "Look where you crash against!"

Robot wheeled off Smith. 

"I will try to do that next time I am in the position." Robot said. "If there is a next time."

Smith fell off the console as the duo laughed. 


	12. Professor John Robinson; Operate a wrong

Smith was on the operation table fast asleep as the family worked together as a team removing the now dead parasite from beneath the layers of skin and bone.

"I always imagined his bones were actually polyalloy." Don admitted. 

"I imagined they were fragile dishware." Maureen said. "With his delicate back and all."

"Not that bad." Don chuckled as did the family.

They wore facial protectors in their suits that were tailor made for the task of being red biohazard suits that fit against their figure in ways that were similar to the cryostasis suits that they went in only a decade ago. Their suits weren't dark but bright. As were most of the uniforms that they had made once they had worn out their old clothes. John regarded his grown family. They had grown in ways that they hadn't since the sabotage and came back together as a unit and gained more members to the family. 

The pieces of the parasite were chucked into a small container, carefully, using the medical tools available. Then the face was stitched up once the parasite was gone while the children kept on operating on the neck removing the pieces of the parasite that clung to the bone and each part of the throat. The older members of the family went into the brain and opened the skull then used highly advanced technology from prior adventures to slide out pieces of the parasite without having to use long and shiny gray medical tools sliding in and out of the brain carefully.

It was a long process that made the hours wane by aiding in the restoration of the man who had restored their family to what it had been before the program had began. A fitting way of repaying a debt that the Robinsons when it regarded the older man.

Finally, the day long mission was completed with stitching bones and regenerating pieces of bone that had been removed for the effort then they left the room and the door closed behind them. The family took off their helmets then breathed a sigh of relief. Robot had prepared a feast for the family that consisted of a large turkey and sauce and pie. The family grinned at their rewards.

"Happy thanksgiving, Robinsons." Robot said. 

Will put a hand on Judy's shoulder causing her to pause.

"How will we know it worked?" Will asked.

"When he wakes up in the morning and joins us at breakfast." Judy replied. "Then, we will see how the change goes."

From the operation room, the body twisted and turned as it was under going a change.

"Doesn't he need some sedatives?" Will asked, turning toward the foggy panel glass window of the sick bay. "I noticed that you hadn't. . ."

"He is asleep, Will." Judy pat on Will's shoulder. "If he is awake then he won't be for long and he will be fast asleep when it happens."

"Did you leave clothing in his size?" Will asked.

"I did." Judy assured.

"Okay." Will walked away.

The figure on the table in the operation room became a humanoid mass of moving parts with skin, nerves, and bone, shifting from one place to the other as it expanded then the figure stopped moving. It was a process of hours as the figure shrunk on the table until it were a human covered in sweat and very cold with long hair and a fairly long beard. The figure was relaxed on the table, resting, in the dark.


	13. Through the fire comes the reward

It was morning when the Robinsons awoke then went outside to the area that waited outside of their ship. The moon was surprisingly full of vegetation compared to the many moons that they had passed by and landed on that were mostly barren far as the eye could see with few spots of hospitality. It was one of the few reminders they weren't on a dying planet.

The table was taken out of the ship then Maureen started making breakfast for the family outside enjoying the weather of the planet. John had been right about trying to cook out in the open when it regarded enjoying what alien planet they were visiting, something that he nagged her about in the last few years over her complaints about the ship feeling stuffy and mundane as she did her shift of cooking.

She set the table up with food (John helped her put the silverware on the table before everyone arrived) then joined her family. Blarp rested under the Jupiter 2 eating away at her morning food that had been delivered by Penny. The family ate their meal under the morning sun enjoying the unique and nice weather that was perfect as any other day.

It was going to be more perfect with a familiar member of their family joining her. Maureen had a plate set out for him waiting for him to wake up, but not daring to enter sick bay as Judy did waiting for the older man to regain his strength. The family were getting worried; it had been a day since surgery and he still hadn't awakened.

* * *

"Is anyone going to check up on him?" Will asked. "It's been two days and he hasn't came out."

"No." John replied.

"He might be in a coma or something." Will said.

"Will." John looked down toward his son standing alongside him in front of the doorway.

"He can't just be regaining his strength." Will said.

"His body is getting readjusted to being human." John said.

"So he is just going slow?" Will blinked.

"Yes, son." John nodded.

"I thought he was a person who was fast." Will admitted.

"He is a slow person, Will." John reminded. "It took him a month just to fight against the Sakkiji enough to save our lives long enough that we could restrain him with help from our guests."

"I remember."

Will's voice grew quiet and small looking back at the creature that had chased after him, his sisters, and Blarp on a hiking trip down the tree line into a tree. Will shuddered at the memory. The memory of his heart pounding against his chest, uncertain, using himself as a meat shield for his siblings was enough to dispel and forget about as a piece of reality. 

"That memory jogging stunt you pulled saved everyone's lives." John went on. "Ours, yours, Robot, and his own."

"That's when he started to come back." Will said. "I knew that I wasn't pulling at strings after I saw his soul in his eyes."

John grinned with a nod.

"He could have spent the rest of his life that way with no hope of coming back." John said. "But you didn't. You clung to hope like it were your lifeline and stared in the death of Death and called for him. When we get to Alpha Prime A, I am going to ask for a medal be given to you."

"Daaaad."

"No buts."

"That's for military purposes!"

"Not when it comes to family, son." John shook his head. "That is all which matters." then he shrugged in his next reply. "And it did count as a military operation with our mission."

"Speaking of mission. . ." Will said. "Dad, he is not going to be out all the way to Alpha Prime A. Isn't he?"

"His brain is just recuperating to not having a parasite inside of it so some parts are taking their sweet time to reestablish. I asked." John said with a light heart. "That's what Judy said to me this morning."

* * *

A figure that had once been tall but had grown short over the last few years came down the platform of the Jupiter 2. It was a slowly but sure walk out of the dark from where the Jupiter 2 was cloaked inside on the fourth day. Robot whirred toward him from his watch out station as did Blarp as his helm bobbed up.

"Doctor Smith is awake!" Robot announced.

Will looked up from his meal then grinned cleaning his hand getting up from the table as everyone turned their attention off their plates toward the entrance of the Jupiter 2. Smith had shaved away leaving the goatee behind, touched by time, appearing before their eyes in a cheerful mood that made his face brighten.

"Ah, good morning, my dears. I smelled breakfast!"

In the next moment, he fell with the children (and Blarp ripping the pole out of the hole) tackling him to the ground with a "oof!" and a "Ow!" once the support stick keeping Blarp bound down hit him on the head.

The adults laughed as Smith proceeded to get up rubbing his wounded head glaring at the creature who was baring their top teeth and started to laugh as Smith lunged toward it but was stopped by Penny and Will.

"One of these days, I shall murder the lizard and no one is going to stop me!" Smith shook his fist after the fleeing Blip. "YOU CARELESS NEANDERTHAL!"

Maureen ran after the Blip as Will and Penny were cackling as the man glared after the fleeing Blip.

"Blarp! Get back here!"

"Penelope, when are you ever going to give that gorilla a proper name?"

"The day we arrive on Alpha Prime A." Penny said between her laughter.

"Sorry about that, Doctor Smith." Will apologized as he got up then he and Penny helped the older man up to his feet. "We were struck by the euphoria that you were back that we forgot you weren't someone like Robot."

"No harm no foul---" Smith cut himself off. "Except for that foul no good creature!" He pointed toward the blip that was being carried by Maureen. "I want nothing to do it with! Absolutely nothing for the rest of the ride!"

Will and Penny laughed as they rejoined the table then Maureen hammered the stake back into the ground. 

Maureen rejoined her happy family.


	14. Major West redux

The hypergate was malfunctioning as Smith was struggling to undo the sabotage on a keyboard. He was even grayer, thinner, more aged. Smith was inside of it in the crew configured aspect of the engineering deck. Pipes were breaking, electricity was cackling around him, he ducked then placed a hand on the side of his forehead with a wince that had wound alongside it. Then he reeled in the pain and resumed his task.

He came to a flickering deep green screen with green wavy bands between the bright green text that read the number of ships flying through the portal. The screen sizzled then the florescent panels fell above him with a loud crash and he collapsed. He groaned then dragged himself out of the wreckage with his hands bruised, covered in cuts, and filth from the build up of dirt. Glass was embedded in his hand.

He slid himself up to his feet and wandered from side to side. He was dizzy at first as his vision adjusted and saw the number of Jupiters read ' **excessive Jupiters** ' then he smiled. _Mission accomplished._ He wandered away from the screen with a sigh then hit his back against a locker. He flung himself forward then typed in a code that ignore the warning as the ship was overshadowed from deck to deck in red lights. He used a pole to lean up partially from the floor then turned on the comn system.

"Holo comn system: activate connection to Alpha Control." Smith said. "Password protected."

He cubbed his head leaning against the pole.

"Smith, get out of there!" John's voice came over the comn.

"The evacuation pod was taken by the saboteur of this project." Smith panted. "I knew that was going to happen and I took that risk _any way_."

He looked toward the holographic representations of the Robinsons that the holo comn system installed into his eyes and head allowed him to see. He shed a small bitter smile as the sound on the other end was turned off. John's face fell as did the rest of the family as it started to hit them what he had done. Don came into his line of vision glaring at him.

 **"** Smith!"

"Yes, C-c-c-c-colonel?"

"Have you heard of a trust fall?"

"Can't say that I haven't." Smith said. "You are not actually considering---"

"It's the only way to get you out of a exploding hypergate by the Elderich Company in one piece!" Don said. "These people are worse than Global Sedition! They let their people escape but they let anyone who interfere stay behind to suffer their mess!"

 **"** I can see where you are going with this!" Smith said. "And then what? Risk losing you?"

"That is not going to happen." Don said, simply.

"If you got close enough during my fall--your ship would get damaged!" He struggled to hold on to a pipe as the hypergate shook from side to side then the hypergate twirled to the side. "And you would be dead, Don!"

Don only stared at the man who was falling side ways.

"Deeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Smith continued as the ship returned to the acceptable gravity and he fell to the floor with a thud landing to his feet. "And all you would have to show for it is a man going light years ahead of Alpha Prime A!"

"He is right," Judy said.

"Do you think that it is worth not doing it?" Don asked.

"He is family." Judy said. "It is worth it to me. The children will understand."

Don turned toward the screen.

"That is a risk I can take." Don said. 

Smith looked toward Don.

"Can your expectant wife?" Smith said.

"She can." Don said.

"Alpha Control out." Judy said.

Don made a bolt for the defense crafts in the hangar bay as the visual for Smith blackened and he vanished from the screen.

"Colonel West to Professor Zachary Smith, I need you to do a trust fall!" Don shouted.

"I don't want to." Smith protested.

"Do you like to live?" Don asked.

"YES! YES!" Smith plead with a whimper. "YES! I do!"

"Then you're gonna jump and let me catch you. I am in a defense craft with a experimental tractor beam that won't hurt unlike the grapples." Don summoned the craft up and placed a cube on to his chest that turned into a spacesuit. "I'll catch you this time."

"I don't want to." Smith sobbed.

"If you don't then I am going to tell Penny why Blarp is actually on another planet!" Don snapped Smith out of his pity and the self-enforced distress. "Instead of being with you when we left and I would tell it in such a nasty way that she will remember you that way for the rest of her natural life and forget about you for the position that you put Blarp into!"

* * *

_"Spare me! Spare me! Spare me!"_

_Smith was slammed down against a rock by tall unusual deer like creatures that were humanoid in nature._

_"Spare me, please!"_

_Smith's hands were tied behind his back as he prayed the Robinsons got there in time._

_"Spare me!"_

_He looked on spotting the axe be raised and started to shriek turning his head away---_

_"PRETTY MAN---NO!"_

* * *

Rage. Pure. Utter rage vibrated through his entire being and he erupted like a volcano as his face turned to a heated red.

"MeEEEEEeeee?" Smith roared. "I didn't put them into that position! They chose it, Colonel! That's the truth!

Don grew surprised from his end of communication.

"I told them to go home and get the others!" Smith roared as the defense fighter flew out of the base. "They took that stepping stone to those alien creatures to become their leader!"

He was distressed by the accusation and pained as he regaled the events. 

"They took it! I ordered them not to!"

Smith paced back and forth as he was trembling with anger.

"I OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRDDEEEEEERREEEED THEM NOOOOOT TO!"

His hands rolled into fists as he paced back and forth.

"It was my fault that I did wander into their strolling grounds!" Smith admitted as he hunched over. "It was my fault I brought Blarp with!"

Smith clenched on to his graying hair then looked up, pained, hurt, and upset.

"But, never, ever, did I put them into it!" Smith protested. "It was live or be killed for Blarp!"

He combed through his hair then extracted his hands off from his hair.

"And I choose death over handing myself over as a slave and leaving Blarp as their property!" He approached the door of the hypergate and pressed a button activating his suit as Don broke through the atmosphere of the planet. "And I will make sure that you do not tell her!"

Smith looked around toward the inside of the craft and grew sad looking back at its construction that he had personally watched in the last decade. He had been there only a few days ago checking on the programming on it. Checking on the capability of launching the rest of humanity from Mars after finishing the evacuation of Earth and chose a nearby system in which they could colonize the roughest of terrain with the proper equipment waiting for them there.

He remembered greeting the engineers and programmers who had simulated the hypergate mission and done the exact modifications to ensure it could carry that many people. The last mission to the solar system that he had been fortunate to be part of. He went into the airlock then the door closed behind him and he stumbled aside feeling unwell. He slid down then lifted himself up.

"Comn system,"

"Comn system, activated."

"If I get out of holo comn range of the Alpha Centauri satellites, please send the following to the Colonel Don West-Robinson and Doctor Judith Robinson-West. If not, delete message automatically. Following message: Remember me, fondly, kindly."

Smith cleared his throat as he sniffled using a support handle above his head to keep him steadied.

"Thank you for being my family. End message."

Smith took in a shaky breath then exhaled.

"Colonel West to Professor Zachary Smith, I am ready for you!"

"Right this moment?" Smith raised his head up.

"Right this moment."

Smith turned toward the direction of flames erupting from the crew compartment then turned around and pressed the air-lock button.

 _Danger!_ , Robot's voice screamed from a long hidden memory of long ago that had aged like fine wine, a friend that he had lost in a few years ago making sure they arrived to Alpha Prime A and couldn't be salvaged (But _had been_ , in memory, someone he was afraid of attempting to resurrect and end up being meddled with for sabotage by a new threat; fears well founded) as tears sprung from the edges of his eyes hearing the familiar voice echoing in his head. _Danger!_

Smith was sucked out of the hypergate then the spacecraft exploded with the last of the Jupiters making it out in the nick of time joining the rest of the fleet bypassing Alpha Prime A headed for Alpha Proxima's planet; Vega _. I wish you were really here, old boob._ And Smith was sent careening off course. He screamed in fear flying away from the wreckage of the hypergate.

"MAAAJOR!"

A slip, a word of the past, a word of desperation, and primal fear.

"Hold on, Smith!"

"Help!"

"Just hold on a moment!"

"I am doomed! Doomed!"

"No, you're not!"

Smith saw the defense craft chasing after him with it's sleek and slim silver jet aspect standing out as it was lagging behind him. He reached a hand out for the craft as though he were close enough to grasp it. His hands only grasped on to empty space with nothing in his grasp. 

Smith closed his eyes screeching in terror with his heart pounding with his life flashing before his eyes leading up to this moment on a fine film of tape. The bad and the good. The Robinsons stood out against the tape of the bad and the good moments that he shared with them caused him to cry.

Abruptly, the spinning feeling came to a cease.

"C--c-c-c-c-c-colonel?"

"I told you I would catch you this time." Don laughed over the line.

Smith opened his eyes then scowled seeing Don laughing in a heavily damaged advanced defense craft.

"I knew you would come!" Smith said.

"Save it for the press, Smith." Don chuckled.

"What press?" Smith asked. "Who would be interested in a complete failure?"

"That was a dashing success!" Don argued. "Got most of the population into the Alpha systems!"

"Was not!" Smith shot back. "We left a few of our own behind!"

"They will take the long way back in the pods." Don said. "They knew of the risk and they accepted that just as you did."

"Hmmph."

"Maybe, you should take that suggestion of rebuilding Robot as your personal protector this time around with the trouble that came to your doorstep!" Don said. "Getting kidnapped, forced to give command control codes to allow access for the sabotage, tortured to name a few."

"I will take that under advisement, Colonel."

"I am calling Alpha Control to get that space pod waiting for you when we get in the atmosphere of the planet. Take a nap in the mean time. It's going to take a while. What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Some anti-fog landed into it." Smith sniffled. "I will try."

"Colonel Don West-Robinson out." Don said.

Smith tried to blink away the tears but they kept falling.

"Holocomn system has a new email for you from Alpha Control. Are you okay?"

 _Will? Penny? Judy? John? Maureen?_ He didn't know which one would have sent it but it had to be all of them. He cried only a little more harder than he did. His future was secured with them and he would have more days to spend around them until his natural demise.

"Reply; sleepy time."

 _The Colonel is right. I should bring that foolish ninny back as a caretaker._ Smith yawned, loudly, then smacked his lips together as his eyes grew heavy feeling safe and secure in the hands of someone that he considered friend. _Protector? I think not!_ And he fell asleep with that train of thought. 

And his snores were transcribed into the reply as he vanished into the abyss of rest. 

From Alpha Prime A; the Robinsons laughed then Will went out to get the space pod and meet up with the colonel.

**The End.**


End file.
